Behind Blue Eyes
by Abbykinz813
Summary: All Roxas wanted was to get away. So, packing up his bags, he leaves home to live on his own. What he has ahead of him is far from peaceful, though, as his troubles seem to follow him wherever he goes. But maybe a certain redhead can help him through it.
1. Lying is Harder Than it Looks

**Ya'll can hate me for starting a new story and not working on my other two D: but I really really like this one right now... and I just kind of need a break from my other stories at the moment. I started like 5 different versions of two different stories and I liked this one the best so I'm putting it up for your viewing pleasure ;)**

**Should I do a disclaimer? I mean, do I even need to tell you guys that I don't own Kingdom Hearts? I guess I'll just do this for this chapter, so be sure to memorize it!**

**Enjoy ;)**

**

* * *

**

**Chapter 1**

**Lying is Harder Than it Looks**

"Everyone, I'd like to introduce a new student today." My homeroom teacher announced, motioning to me as I stood next to her, hands behind my back, and a small smile plastered across my cheeks. "This is Roxas Hikari. Please make him feel comfortable. You can sit wherever you like." She smiled, motioning for me to sit down. I nodded a thank you and moved to the back of the very back of the room to the empty desk next to the window, a brown haired boy with extremely bright blue eyes sitting in the seat in front of it.  
The second I sat down he had twisted in his seat to face me, flashing me a huge, bright smile. "Hi! My name's Sora. So you're Roxas? Your last name is really cool – Hikari, right? So why'd you come to this school?"

"Oh, my dad moved here for work." I smiled, but gripped my backpack a little too tightly. "I used to live in Nevada, so this is kind of a big change for me. "

"Nevada? Really?" he gasped. "I've always wanted to go there! My parents have some friends that have a vacation house in Vegas, but we haven't been able to go see them. I really want to go though, I hear it's amazing."

"It's not as amazing as everyone thinks it is." I laughed quietly. "I didn't live in Vegas, but I had family who did and it was always really dry and hot. You could only have a small patch of grass in your yard, and that was only if you had pets. It's nothing like the houses you see on TV."

"Oh, that kind of sucks..." he sighed, dropping his shoulders in disappointment.

"But... the city at night is amazing." I said, thinking back to my most favorite part about my old home, if not, my only favorite part about it. "There are so many lights and everything, especially around all of the casinos. It's really pretty."

Sora smiled at me, about to say something until the bell rang and we all stood up, the fifteen of us heading out the door. "What class do you have first?"

"Um... French." I said, looking at my schedule for Thursday.

"Awe, I've got Swimming." He frowned, but then smiled, slinging his backpack over his shoulders. "Well, I'll see you later! Good luck on your first day, Roxas!"

I nodded, smiling as I waved back at him until he rounded the corner. I let my smile fall into an agitated frown. Great, the first day and I already had some hyper kid wanting to be friends with me.

I readjusted my shoulder bag and walked down the stairs to classroom 125 for French.

Overall the day had been exactly what I expected; introductions to each class, follow along just like every other student, asked to sit with at lunch, and the occasional girl giggling with her friends when we made eye contact. I made it through with all smiles, and by the end of the day I was able to get in my car and go home. It took about ten minutes to drive down to the apartment complex, where I trudged up the stairs, pushed open my door, walked into my room and fell onto the bed face first.

I woke up at seven, my head throbbing like it always did when I fell asleep during the day. Groaning, I dragged myself to my feet and went to the bathroom for some Tylenol, turning on most of the lights on my way. Once my headache was taken care of I moved to the kitchen to cook some dinner for myself.

I lived alone.

My life back home had been hell on Earth, and once I turned sixteen I had had enough of it. With the help of my mom (who actually did something useful for once in her life) and my brother I changed my name, smashed my piggy bank, packed my bags, got in the car and left. The whole transaction from Winchester (NV) to Omaha (NE) had taken about two and a half months all together, and I spent another month or two finding a job at a local Hy-Vee and getting settled before my mom enrolled me in school. Of course she told the principal of my situation, and after much bribing, there I was. Of course, for all the owners of my apartment complex knew, my brother was living with me.

Now I had to admit, money was pretty tight (meaning no school lunches), but I managed, and Mom agreed to pay for my rent for the first year and Cloud (my brother) insisted on handling half of my school funds. The apartment building wasn't fancy in the least, but so long as it had a place to sleep, eat, pee, bathe, and working electricity, I wouldn't care if it were the worst of the worst.

The reason I moved? Well, lets keep it short and just say I didn't exactly get along with my father for... certain things that happened.

For dinner, I settled for mac n cheese, as well as doing my homework at the small circular table sitting in the middle of the kitchen, the old dial radio I had brought with me from home turned to 101.9. I honestly felt comfort with the fact that I was finally out of the clutches of my dad, and with that I was able to finish my homework, shower, and go to bed. Not that I fell asleep until about four, but I was still able to lay down and read, which for me feels as if I had been sleeping anyway.

"So, Roxas, do you have a cell phone?" Sora asked once I had arrived in homeroom and settled myself in the seat next to him.

I shook my head. "No, sorry. My parents told me that I couldn't get one unless I paid for it, and I don't have the money..." Yeah, right. So what would you call that thing in my bag?

"That sucks! Awe, I was hoping we could swap numbers..." Sora sighed, but pulled out a piece of paper and started writing. When he finished, he handed me the paper and I saw that it had his number on it. "Here, this way you can call me from your house phone instead! We'll just have to talk the old fashioned way." He grinned.

I nodded, tucking the paper into my pocket. Not that I was actually going to call him. I was grateful when the bell rang for us to go, but before I could leave my teacher stopped me. "Oh, Roxas, you've been excused from your first class today. Your counselor wanted to talk with you." She told me.

"Alright. Thanks." I smiled, waving goodbye before heading down the hall to the guidance office. When I walked inside I saw about five doors lining three of the walls, and was about to ask the lady at the desk against the forth wall when a woman with long brown hair pulled back into a braid and a large pink bow at the top of it called me over to her.

Once we settled inside her office, she smiled at me. "Hello Roxas, I'm Aerith Gainsborough, I'll be your counselor for the rest of your time here. I've been informed of your current situation, and..."

"Oh, you don't have to worry about that." I smiled, but my voice came off more bitter than sweet. "I've got everything under control."

"That may be the case, but I only wanted to tell you that if you ever needed anything that you can always come to me. And... I was wondering if you would be willing to tell me why exactly you chose to do this."

My smile faltered. "Um... I don't think..."

"I'm sorry, my curiosity gets the best of me sometimes." She laughed. "You don't have to talk about it if it makes you uncomfortable. I'm just here to help."

I nodded. "Mrs. Gainsborough, would it be okay I if I went back to class now? I don't really think I should be missing class on only the second day..."

"Of course sweetie, I'll just write you a pass." She smiled, pulling out a small piece of paper, scribbled some words on it, and handed it to me. "And don't forget to come in and talk some time."

With one last nod I grabbed my bag and left the room, taking out my schedule as I walked down the hall to figure out what class I had. Looked like Art Foundations. As I fumbled to stuff my schedule back into my pocket, I failed to notice someone round the corner next to me, and with a loud 'oof!' we both tumbled to the ground.

"Ah, sorry about that." The person who ran into me laughed apologetically, pushing himself off of me so I wasn't being crushed anymore. "I guess I was running too fast."

"Yeah, just a bit." I mumbled under my breath, but smiled once I stood up and brushed the wrinkles out of my jacket. "No problem, I wasn't looking either." I looked up once he had started talking, and my eyes widened at his appearance. He was, well, to put it simply, absolutely gorgeous. He had this insane red hair that spiked out and green eyes that looked way too bright to be real, but also held this amazing intensity that just made you know they were. Not to mention the upside down teardrop tattoos underneath them. He had on a pair of black, ripped up skinny jeans with thin small chains connected to the belt loops, a beat up pair of black converse, and a green and black Slytherin jacket (I had two just like it, one for Slytherin and one for Gryffindor; if you don't know what it's from, read Harry Potter. NOW).

I must have been staring a bit too obviously because he stopped saying whatever it was he was saying that I wasn't listening to and smirked. "Enjoying the view, blondie? I asked what your name was."

I blushed, quickly looking away. "I-it's Roxas."

"Hm... Roxas. Rrrroxas. I like it, plus I can call you Roxy." he grinned. "My name's Axel. It would be wise of you to memorize it."

"Um... yeah, okay." I nodded, not quite sure what to say to that. Plus I was trying to ignore the fact that he had just called me Roxy.

"So, Roxy, what class are you headed to?" he asked.

"Uh, Art Foundations." I said, having to think about it.

"Looks like we're headed the same way. Come on, we're already late as it is." and with that he was grabbing me by the wrist and dragging me down the hall to our class. I wasn't sure what to make of this Axel guy. He looked like someone who would be mean or more rebellious, but he was acting almost like a taller, red haired Sora.

When we got to art I handed my teacher my pass and she nodded, telling us to take a seat wherever so she could continue her lesson. Axel, still holding my wrist, pulled me over to a table with two open seats, the other occupied by a guy with a mullet. Apparently the two knew each other, because when we sat down he grinned at Axel.

"I was starting to think you wouldn't show up." He said.

"Shut up, it's not my fault no one woke me up this morning." Axel growled.

"How long have you been here?" the blonde one asked, his attention suddenly turned to me. "Did you transfer to this class or something?"

"Um, no, this is only my second day here..." I explained.

"Oooh that explains it! So you're new? What's your name? What grade are you in? Me and Axel are juniors. Based on your height I'd guess freshman, but I'm also guessing sophomore..." he contemplated, rubbing his chin in thought.

If this were an anime, you would see the little irritated symbol on my forehead. Ignoring the comment regarding height, I smiled. "No, I'm a junior. My name's Roxas."

"Whoa, seriously? You're a junior?" he gasped, earning a glare from the teacher. "I could have sworn you were a freshman... or at least a sophomore. Well, my name's Demyx. How'd you meet Axel?"

"I ran into him when I was running to class." Axel explained. "And I think you meant 'Axel and I' not 'me and Axel'."

"Oh, pish posh, who cares about grammar." Demyx huffed, crossing his arms. Oh man, I was going to have a serious headache by the end of the day. "So Roxas, where did you go before here?"

"Oh, I moved from Nevada." I said.

"Nevada? Wow, did you live in Vegas? Oooh I bet that would have been amazing! The city, the lights, the people... a true star's dream." He sighed happily, and I could sense him drifting off into his own dreamland.

"Um... actually I lived just outside Vegas, in Winchester... I've only been in Vegas a couple times before since it's still a pretty lengthy drive."

"What got you to move here?" Axel asked.

"Um, my dad... he had to move for work." I shrugged, avoiding his stare. There was just something about how he stared at me, as if he was studying me, or something, that just made it so I couldn't look him in the eye or else I felt like he would be able to see everything.

I tried to pay attention to the rest of class, the teacher explaining something about how we were going to be doing a drawing of still life that would be due in a month or two, but it became difficult with a certain blonde rambling on about his dream of going to Vegas to play music or something. It didn't end there; turns out, Axel was in my next class as well. I put up with him as best I could, but lying proved to be much harder with his intense stare every time I answered a question.

"What are you staring at?" he asked, noticing my gaze was fixed on the chalkboard behind him. I was waiting not-so patiently for the bell to ring so I could run off to an IMC or something for some quiet.

"Oh, nothing, I was just kind of staring off at nothing..." I said, looking down at my hands.

"You've barely made eye contact at all." He pointed out.

"So?"

"So, you need to learn how to hold someone's gaze! You can't have a decent conversation when you aren't even looking at the person. Come on, look me in the eye." He said, staring at me with a very serious expression on his face. I couldn't do it. Aside from trying not to laugh at such a random and pointless conversation, he was taking it all seriously. I glanced at him, but each time I did I had to look away. I thought I would be free once the bell rang, but he pulled me out the door and as we were walking he kept trying to get me to look him in the eye.

"I don't see why this is such a big deal." I said, still only glancing at him as he walked backwards through the hallway.

"Because! How else are you going to get a good job? The key is eye contact. No ones going to hire you if you don't use eye contact." He said.

"For your information, I do have a job." I growled, glaring at him.

"Aha! So you can look someone in the eye!" he laughed triumphantly, but I only frowned and remained silent.

"Turn around before you run into something." I said, trying not to show the agitation in my voice. He had been walking backward for the whole time and somehow managed not to run over a single person. It was honestly pissing me off to no end.

He sighed, but spun around to my side so he wasn't walking backwards or in front of me anymore, and folded his hands behind his head. "Hey Rox, can I ask you something?"

"Um, sure." I nodded.

"Why do you always do that?"

"Do what?"

"What you've been doing all morning." He sighed. "You keep smiling and laughing even though you don't look like you're happy at all."

I froze, surprising the person behind me and causing them to stumble out of the way at the last minute. How had he noticed? I had spent years building this up, and so far no one had been able to tell. No one. Not even the people I was closest to. So why him? Why this person that I had only known for less than two hours?

Axel had kept walking for a good three steps before he noticed I wasn't following and turned to look at me. "You okay?"

I nodded mechanically, willing my legs to move. "I just, um, I'm not sure what you mean, ha ha..." I laughed nervously, resuming my spot by his side.

Axel shrugged. "It's nothing, you just don't seem very happy. Why smile if you're not happy, you know?"

I remained silent for the rest of our walk to the cafeteria, and by the time we reached it I remembered that I had absolutely no money to buy food, and no idea who the heck I was going to be sitting with. Well, with Axel, that was obvious, but what kind of people did Axel sit with, exactly? Would they even want me at their table? "Come on," Axel nudged me. "Don't want the seats to fill up, do ya? Set your bag down and we'll go grab some grub." He said, walking over to a table with a very... interesting group of people. One boy (?) had long, pink hair that went past his shoulders, another I recognized as Demyx, and there was a girl who's hair reminded me of a bug's antennas. Axel dropped his bag into a seat and pulled another one up to the table from the one behind us and motioned for me to put my bag on it. "Guys, this is Roxas. I'll do introductions later, first we get food." I followed him wordlessly, wondering just exactly what I would tell him if he asked what I was getting.

"I'll be back, go pick out what you want and I'll meet you in line." he said, grabbing a tray before disappearing into the crowd of people. I pulled out my wallet from my pocket only to find that I had a fifty-dollar bill that I would be using to buy groceries after school with. I definitely wasn't breaking that for a three-dollar lunch.

Axel showed up at my side with some type of sandwich or sub wrapped up on his tray, ice cream, and an apple juice a few minutes later. He gave me a puzzled look when we got in line and he saw that I had nothing in my hands. "Are you getting anything?"

I shook my head, smiling. "Oh, my parents haven't put any money on my account yet."

"Hm... well, we can't have you going hungry. Go pick something out, today'll be my treat." He winked, and I was about to protest but I knew it would be useless. With a sigh I turned around and went to grab a thing of fries and some ketchup. When I got back Axel shook his head but grinned. "You could have gotten more than that, you know. Go snag a drink as well."

"But-"

"Come on, it's my money, and I'm saying I want to use it to buy you lunch. So no complaining." He said, and with that I sighed, going to the cooler to grab a pink lemonade. With that Axel punched in his lunch code, showed the lady his ID, and we were back at the table.

Today had proven to be a lot more work than the day before. I had just gotten home from the store, and let me tell you, I was exhausted. I couldn't get what Axel had told me out of my head.

How the heck was he able to tell I wasn't happy? Sure, I felt a bit better now that I was able to live without being constantly tortured by my dad, but it wasn't like I was happy. Surviving, maybe, but definitely not happy.

I sunk lower in the bathtub, letting my nose slide under the water as I started to slowly blow out through my nose, creating little bubbles. I was tired; I didn't need to be thinking about this stuff.

Let's just hope Axel didn't get any more observative than he already was. I didn't know if I could handle him asking me that question again.

I didn't go back to lunch after Tuesday. I knew that Axel would start to get suspicious of when exactly my parents were going to put money in my account, seeing as that wasn't going to happen any time soon. It had been about two weeks since I had started school, and so far things were... well, not good, but bearable. It wasn't like I was going to go insane from being there. Of course, that's assuming I haven't gone insane already.

Paying for food turned out to be a lot more expensive than I though it would be. I set myself on a budget of sixty dollars a month, and ten of those dollars was emergency only. Like, if I suddenly ran out of milk or shampoo or something. If not, I carried that extra ten over into my bank account. A little tip; never ever EVER get a credit card. They kill you. Stick to a cash card, they are way easier to handle, and if you run out of money, you just don't buy anything and wait to put more on it. With a credit card, you go into debt and fees and all that crazy nonsense that slowly drains all of your money.

School had been catching up to me, but luckily since I didn't go to lunch, I was able to get most of my homework done in school. It kind of sucked not being able to have a laptop like everyone else at the school, but that was definitely something I couldn't afford. Heck, I didn't even have a TV. I was honestly thinking about getting a second job, one that I could do on the side when I didn't have to work at Hy-Vee, but unless it was some nighttime job, that wasn't happening.

Sora entertained me every morning during homeroom, telling me about whatever it was he had done the day before, and constantly reminding me that he wanted me to meet his friends some time. I had found out that I had my art, science, math, and creative writing class with Axel, and he constantly asked me why I hadn't been coming to lunch, where I would just smile and tell him I ate later in the day so I probably just wasn't in the lunch room when he was. Leave it to Axel not to believe me.

"You know what I think?" he said on Wednesday during our last class, leaning back in his chair while our teacher talked about science. "I think that you just skip lunch. I mean, really? You have it the same time as me on Tuesdays, I know that much, yet you haven't showed up for two weeks."

I shrugged, tapping my fingers on the desk. He had really been trying my patience the past few days. "Why should it matter to you anyway?"

"Because as your friend I have a right to be worried about your well-being! You're too tiny to risk not eating. And I saw you scarf down those fries last time; you looked like you hadn't seen food in months." He huffed, obviously angry. "So what's your excuse? Because apparently you wont tell me the truth anyway."

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose in between my index finger and thumb. "Look, I'm just a little tight on cash right now, twenty dollars a week is not worth loosing just so I can eat some food at school."

"Why didn't you just tell me you're family's broke?" he scoffed. "Seriously, I've got extra lunch money, you could have just asked."

"I don't want your money." I said.

"And I don't want you to starve. Come to lunch eighth period tomorrow, you're eating food." He said, and I knew that was that. No excuses.

I sighed, and luckily not long after the bell rang signaling school was over for the day. I needed a Tylenol and a long shower. No, scratch that, bath. Bubble bath. "I'll see you tomorrow..."

"Hey, wait." Axel said, catching up to me as I walked out of the classroom.

"What is it?"

He seemed to falter for a moment, parting his lips to say something but then thinking better of it and closing his mouth again. "Never mind. I'll see you tomorrow."

Although I was confused, I didn't dwell on his strange behavior. I simply headed to my car, drove back home to get on my uniform, and then back onto the road to drive to work. Great, just what I needed. A bunch of snotty people getting mad at me because they didn't get that one penny back. Why couldn't I be one of the people that stacks the food? I'd rather push carts in the dead of winter than sit at a register for four hours having to pretend to be sickeningly happy. Of course, that didn't stop me from doing my job. I'd rather get paid for doing something I hate than not get paid just to avoid it.

By the time I got home, it was well past nine and I was more than a little tired. You know what, screw the bubble bath. I was skipping dinner and I was going straight to bed. ...Ha, if only it were that easy. By midnight, I was starting to think that skipping that bath was a very good idea. I needed the stress relief, but it was too late now. Sure, I could have just gotten in the tub without any worry of waking someone up, but I just couldn't take a bath so late at night. It just... it felt weird. I'd take a shower in the morning or something.

* * *

**Good? Yes? No? I want to know! Send me your feedback...and... oh, heck, I sound like one of those stupid survey people or whatever they are.. Just remember that I literally squeal with happiness when I so much as see that someone reviewed (even before I click on the button to read it). Thank you for reading!**


	2. Don't Call Me Roxy

**Hello! Chapter 2 is finally here. I would have updated yesterday but I'm actually in Wisconsin right now, after an 8 hour drive here xD our first hotel we stayed at two nights ago had no internet, so, yeah... but hey, now chapter 2 is up and I'll begin working on chapter 3 soon! Maybe a few weeks. Sorry that updates are really slow, hehe... well, enjoy the chapter and sorry for any mistakes!

* * *

**

**Chapter 2**

**Don't Call Me Roxy**

_Hands. Large, callused hands. Moving, moving up and down, side-to-side. Touching. Trespassing. A calming voice. Threatening. Soothing. Warning. 'Don't worry, it'll only hurt a little.' Pain. It hurt! It hurt! Get it out! Stop it! Hands, caressing tear-stained cheeks. 'shhh' Stop! Please! Make it stop! Hands. Tightened grip, hard enough to leave a bruise. Yet still somehow comforting. Gentle strokes. I don't want this... Please stop... 'That wasn't so bad, was it?' A kiss on the forehead. Gentle. It left a burning mark. A mark of possession. 'You're mine.'_

I woke up panting and sweating. Next thing I knew, I was hunched over the sink, trying to calm my shakiness and just breathe at the same time. Inhaler... inhaler... where was my inhaler? Even more panic spread through me as I searched the cabinets, knocking over pill cases and my toothbrush until I finally found it; sticking the device into my mouth and pressing on it. I took a deep breath, leaned against the wall, and slid down to sit on the cold tile, folding my knees to my chin and burying my face in my arms.

I stayed there until my heart rate was back to normal and my body had stopped shaking, after which I stood up, using the sink for support. Splashing my face with cool water, I stepped into the shower, cranking the heat up the tiniest bit more than usual, until it turned my skin red. I needed to get the feel of that... dream... off of me.

At first, I hoped that I would be able to go through the day without having to deal with anyone. Things seemed to be going my way at first; Sora was home sick and I only had one class with Axel and his sugar-high friend. Then I remembered that Axel had so kindly said that I would be joining him for lunch, and there was no way to ditch seeing as we had our class right before lunch together. Great.

When I got to my art class, I was glad that I was the first person there. Well, besides the teacher, but she was busy doing... whatever it is art teachers do before class. Honestly, I couldn't care less at the moment. Ever since this morning, things had been pretty tough. Being polite was... a lot more work that I was really willing to deal with right now. Not when I had barely gotten two hours of sleep and had that panic attack... slash asthma attack. The two kind of attract each other. Sucks, I know. I've had asthma since I was a kid, and my brother used to tickle me until I had an asthma attack. That was... before things got bad.

Not a minute later people had started to take their seats, Axel and Demyx joining me at the cluster of three desks surrounding a rectangular hanger that had different types of fabric hanging off of it closest to the door. I didn't even have the strength to smile and wave; I just sat there, staring at the desk, not so much as nodding when Demyx said hello.

"You okay, Roxy? You're looking kind of pale." Axel said, dropping his bag onto the floor by his seat before walking over to me, poking my forehead. When I swatted his hand away, he pretended to wince. "Ooh, feisty this morning, are we? What's got little Roxy's panties in a bunch?"

"Don't call me that."

At this he grinned. "You mean Roxy? What, you don't like it?"

"No, I don't. And if you don't mind, I'm not feeling very well, so can you please leave me alone for a while?" I partially begged, massaging my temples.

"If you're not feeling good, you should go to the nurse. I mean, you don't look so hot, Roxy." He said, the concern clear in his voice. Great, now I had the crazy redhead worried for my health. Joy.

"I would go home if it weren't for the fact that, A, I've only been in school for about two-ish weeks, and B, I have no one to give them the okay to let me go. I doubt they'd let me just waltz out of here." I sighed, pulling out my sketchpad when the bell rang and our teacher started talking, to which Axel took his seat diagonally from me, seeing as Demyx had taken his seat across from me.

"Yeah, I guess they wouldn't... but you could still go lay down for a little while. It might make you feel better." He offered.

"I'll be fine."

He nodded, taking out a pencil and his own sketchpad. "If you say so." And after a second of silent eye contact, I quickly looked away and started working on my piece, eyeing the black fedora that sat over purple ruffled fabric. Part of me wondered what the other two were drawing, but quickly dismissed the idea of peaking over to look. Besides, they'd probably end up telling me about what they were doing later. Like at lunch... ugh. Why couldn't this day be over?

After a little less than forty minutes of mostly silent drawing, the bell rang, signaling the end of the mod. Axel yawned and stretched, leaning down to grab his backpack before standing next to me. "You ready, Roxy?"

"I thought I told you not to call me that." I said, my own way of saying 'yes'.

"Oh, come on, it's fun!" he grinned, patting my back a little roughly. "Besides, that name suits you. Don't you think so, Demyx?"

"You won't win, Roxas. No matter what you do, he'll just keep calling you that forever and ever." Demyx laughed, heading over to the door. "I'll catch you guys later! I gotta go talk to one of my teachers."

"Fail another test?" Axel grinned.

"Nah, Powers is finally fed up with me not turning in my Spanish homework!" he laughed, saluting the two of us before he rushed out the door.

Axel shook his head, laughing softly. "Man I feel sorry for his teachers... So," he turned to me. "Shall I escort you to lunch, Princess?"

"I'll pass." I said, pushing past him. He caught up easily, his long legs letting him take one step in what would take me two. Cursing his long legs, I slowed down to a regular walk.

"I think I like this Roxas better." Axel commented, earning himself a raised eyebrow as my response. What did he mean by that? He just shrugged. "Come on, if we don't get to lunch soon all the seats will be filled up. You want a place to sit, don't you?"

"I didn't even want to go." I reminded him, but he just laughed, grabbed me by my wrist, and practically dragged me across the school (curse these short legs!). After claiming our seats, Axel going out of his way to squeeze me in right next to him (which took about ten minutes to push everyone over, find a seat, and actually get it wedged into the corner of the cafeteria we were in), we went into the food court area. He told me to go get something, but I just followed him over to the sub station.

Sub and apple juice in hand, Axel turned to me. "What are you still standing here for? I said I'd buy for you, didn't I?"

I shook my head. "I told you I didn't want you to pay for me. I'll just eat when I get home."

"Nonsense! You should never skip lunch; it powers you up for the final half of the day. Now come on, go pick out what you like. And not just fries this time! I've got like, twenty dollars for every day, I don't want to see it go to waste." He insisted, tossing his apple juice in the air and catching it, over and over again, until I groaned and headed over to grab myself some food. This... was going to be a long two years.

"Hey Rox, you okay?" Namine asked, watching me as I rested my elbows on the scanner, rubbing my face with my hands.

"Yeah, I guess." I sighed. Namine was a coworker of mine, same age and similar in looks (we get mistaken for siblings at least once a day), but she went to an all girls school. Mercy, I think? Needless to say, we became friends when she trained me for the first couple days I started work. Namine was... easy to talk to. She actually got me to tell her everything that happened; the whole story, not just snippets or summaries. She saw through all the lies the second they left my mouth, so she came over once and I told her about my situation. I think what helped most was that she never interrupted me once when I was talking, and she didn't treat me any differently after she knew. That's probably one of the main reasons as to why I didn't like telling anyone. I didn't want them to pity me.

"Roxas... what happened?" she asked suspiciously.

I sighed again. "This... guy at school is getting on my nerves."

"Oh?" yeah, that would peak your interest, wouldn't it Nami.

"Him and his friend. They're so... I don't know. Different. He wont leave me alone."

"What's he look like?"

"Uh... spiky red hair" I held my hand over my head. "He's really tall, and has these tattoos under his eyes." I explained, poking the spot where they were located on his face. "His eyes are like, this really bright green too."

And for some reason, she started laughing. "Are you talking about Axel?"

"You know him?"

"He's only my brother's best friend!" she grinned.

"Wait, that means you're... Demyx's brother." That... did not seem possible. Calm, shy, and very polite plus crazy, idiotic, unmannered. That doesn't match up in my book. "But... how?"

"Our mom gave birth to us?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

"Yeah, it's just fun messing with you. But- oh, Roxas, customer." She said, just as someone started to wheel their cart up to the check out counter. I smiled at the person, going through all of the annoying 'how are you? Did you find everything okay?' for the next hour or so before we got a small break from any customers, where Namine took the chance to continue our conversation. "So, how'd you get to be friends with Axel?"

"I wouldn't really call us friends." I said, scrunching my nose at the term. "But we crashed into each other on our way to art, and found out we were in the same class. Thus, he has now deemed me 'Roxy' and started dragging me to lunch."

"Hm..." she nodded, grinning to herself about god-knows-what, and I really didn't think I wanted to know. Grinning Namine equals nothing good. I just raised my eyebrow in question, and another steady flow of customers kept us from talking much for the rest of the day. We said our goodbyes at nine before heading our separate ways.

I sat in the tub for about an hour afterwards, staring blankly ahead, just thinking. Going over the past few weeks. Axel was... different. He seemed like one of those people who wouldn't really give a crap about what other people felt, but then he could see through everything I did... It didn't make sense. I had been keeping this up for years. The only other person who knew was Namine. So how the heck could some idiot like him see through me?

With a heavy sigh, I slid down into the water until my nose was just above the water, and started blowing bubbles. I was thinking about this too much. So he noticed I wasn't exactly the happiest person in the world. Big deal? It wasn't like he knew about my situation or anything like that. Besides, who was he to say whether or not I was happy? I'm perfectly happy living my life... in... fear... of someone who may or may not be behind bars...

A deep breath. I dunked my head under the water, squeezing my eyes shut. No, I couldn't think about that now. He was in prison, Dad put him in prison... right? Or was his reputation more important than our safety?

I pushed myself out of the water, shaking my hair dry as I wrapped a towel around my waist and stumbled over to the mirrored cabinet above the sink. Which one could I take? It was all one-a-day except Tylenol, but... I really needed something else. I wasn't in pain, I just had that horrible sinking feeling. 'Isn't this stuff supposed to work all day?' I pulled out bottle after bottle, scanning the instructions. One a day... one a day... was there anything other than Tylenol and Dayquill that wasn't one a day?

I let out a strangled yell, shoving everything out of the cabinets, bottles crashing to the floor. I stormed out of the room, slamming the door, and breathing heavily I made my way into my bedroom, searching and searching the drawers. I threw clothes out, digging through everything like my life depended on it. In a way... it did. I needed it. I needed it so much, I could barely breathe. Couldn't control my shaking. I felt like my heart was being constricted. Grazing my fingers over the top of the case, I pulled out the item I had been looking for.

It was bright.

The first thing I saw when I opened my eyes was the ceiling of the bathroom. My whole body was numb. I tried to move my hand, but I couldn't feel anything. Did I even have a hand? Who's to say I hadn't just... disappeared? My body wiped clean off the face of the Earth? When the feeling started to come back, I only wished that were true.

My arms were on fire. Every movement irritated cuts that were barely hours old. Small droplets of blood were formed, some dry and some new. I tried to stay as still as possible. Breathe in, breathe out. Now... try to remember what happened. I closed my eyes, telling myself to breathe as I recalled the events of last night. It all felt like a dream. Like it hadn't really happened at all, but the evidence was clear that it did. I remembered knocking all of the bottles onto the floor and then finding my knife and... We'll leave it at that.

Slowly, carefully, I rolled over onto my side, wincing from every movement sending strings of pain through my arms. I stopped when I had positioned myself on my hands and knees, taking a couple of deep breathes before I pushed myself to my feet. I had to hold back a scream. Ignoring the mirror as best I could, I dragged my feet across the floor, kicking over bottles and stepping on pills that had spilled out, I made my way slowly into my room. I managed to pull on a pair of boxers before I just let myself fall face first onto my bed and just lay awake until my alarm went off for me to get ready for school.

"-and yeah, so I don't know what to do! Um... Roxas...?" Sora asked, tilting his head so that it was at the same angle as mine, which was laying on my arms that were folded on my desk. I honestly hadn't been listening to a word he said. I didn't have the energy to listen. "You look really pale, are you okay?"

"Fine, I just didn't get much sleep." I mumbled, letting out a sigh when the bell rang and I had to get up to got to class. That's right, I had art first thing this morning... great. I pushed myself out of my desk and began walking towards the art room. Of course, as luck would have it, not even halfway there a very familiar someone was right next to me, slinging his arm over my shoulders.

"Good morning, Roxy, and how are we this fine, fine Friday morning?" Axel asked, shaking me a bit with his hold on my shoulders.

I pushed him off of me and shook my head. Oh, i'm just peachy, Axel. "Fine."

"Something bothering ya?"

"I said I'm fine." I said, a little harsher than I meant it to sound. Great, now he'll definitely believe you.

"Doesn't sound like it to me." I rolled my eyes. Of course. I knew he would say that. "You know what I think you need? A trip to good old Dairy Queen. There's no better cure than ice cream."

What.

"Come on, it'll be fun!" he said, nudging me in my side.

"I... I have to work."

"Liar." Dammit.

"I don't have money."

"I'll pay."

I sighed. "Axel..."

"Pleeeaasssee?" he begged, folding his hands and practically getting on his knees.

I rolled my eyes. What in gods name was I getting myself into? "Whatever..."

"Success! Alright, we'll go after school today. And don't think about ditching. Besides, we have French last thing today so you wouldn't have a chance." He grinned, punching a fist in the air.

Suddenly the bell rang again, meaning we were late for class. "Shit." he breathed. "Alright, come on, time to run!" and with that he grabbed my hand and began running to class as I tried desperately to keep from tripping behind him.

Apparently, Demyx had called in sick today. This was not good for me. Why? Because that meant that all of Axel's attention would be focused on, you guessed it, me. I had the sneaking suspicion that that's what brought on the sudden Dairy Queen thing as well. What possessed me to actually say yes to going was concerning me the most though.

But, I had said yes, and Axel sure as heck wasn't planning on letting me get out of going. So, when three o'clock rolled around, he was practically dragging me out into the parking lot. Then it occurred to me; what about my car? I didn't want to just... leave it here. "Axel, what about my car?" I asked.

"Oh yeah. Well, you can either leave it here or drop it off at your house." He said.

"Alright... um, I want to drop it off at my house." I said.

"Okey Dokey. I'll be driving behind you, then." He said, fishing out his keys as we walked down the parking lot. I got to my car first, his being a little farther down. Part of me did think of just speeding off as fast as I could back home or somewhere else, but I didn't. I kept my promise and let him follow behind in his car, pulling up to the parking garage of my apartment a couple minutes after. Axel parked near the closest door before climbing out and meeting me halfway to his car.

"Since we're here, I'm going to drop off my stuff." I explained, walking past him and up the stairs to the back door of my little house. The cool thing about this apartment building was that they had doors on the outside and inside, so you didn't have to go all the way through the whole building to get to your place.

Part of me was worried about Axel seeing where I lived. I was worried that he'd notice that no one else lived there, that it was a one bedroom apartment… or that he'd see the mess in the bathroom. I had been so out of it that morning that I didn't' even bother cleaning anything…

As I turned the knob to open the door, I took a breath and pushed it open, examining Axel's reaction to where I lived. Surprisingly, he just stood and looked around, only the tiniest hint of curiosity in his eyes. I dropped my bag on the couch in front of me an then turned to leave again. "Okay, let's go and get this over with."

"Well don't let me put a damper in your wonderful mood, Roxy." Axel grinned.

"I said don't call me that!" I growled, brushing past him to leave. He only laughed to himself and followed me out. Why, of all the days he had to ask me to hang out with him, did it have to be the day where I felt like utter crap?

* * *

**So... yeah! Hope it's okay? Haha, hopefully chapter 3 will get a little fun, with the whole ice cream trip and stuff :P Please please please review!**


	3. Not So Bad After All

**Hiya :) So in between a craze-filled couple weeks I've managed to update another chapter! Finally, right? So I hope you enjoy it! That's really all I have to say xD**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**Not So Bad After All**

"So you said you used to live in Nevada?" Axel asked, taking a bite of his hot fudge sundae. "Why move from there all the way to Nebraska?"

I didn't answer for a while, using a giant bite of my own ice cream as an excuse. But eventually I had to swallow, and I sighed. "I told you, didn't I? We moved because of work."

"Ah, but that's not the whole story, is it?" Axel grinned, wagging a finger at me. "Don't think that just because I've got the sexy punk rocker look means I'm stupid."

"Look, I really would rather not talk about it, okay?" I said, avoiding his gaze and absentmindedly scratching under my arm. I had been ignoring the urge to scratch them all day, but the constant itching was finally getting the better of me.

"Does it have to do with all that scratching at your arms?" He asked, and I jerked my hand away, hiding it under the table.

"Maybe my arm had an itch." I said.

"And why would that be?" he questioned.

I shook my head and sighed. "You over analyze things."

"Maybe, but only when I find it necessary. So, I'm going to ask you again, why did you move?" This time he placed his elbows on the table, resting his chin on his folded hands.

"And I will say it's none of your freaking business, so bug off." I growled.

"Fine, fine, but we're never going to get anywhere if we know nothing about each other." Axel sighed.

I raised an eyebrow. "Then why don't you start?"

"Good idea." He grinned. "I'm Axel Sinclaire, seventeen and turning eighteen in August. Despite popular belief, this _is_ my natural hair color. I have two siblings, a younger sister named Kairi and an older brother named Reno. My parents are pretty wealthy but that's not really something I like to brag about. I'm hopefully going to become a history teacher after college."

Again one of my eyebrows raised, a little surprised at his little introduction. A history teacher, huh? I noticed that he was waiting for me to do the same, and sighed. "I'm Roxas S-... Hikari. I'm sixteen and I turn seventeen in January. My parents work a lot and the rest of my family isn't of importance. I don't have plans for the future yet."

"Well that's boring." Axel scoffed. "And what's this about your family? You were about to say something after your last name but changed it. Come on, open up a little."

I groaned. "I have an older brother. My parents work for this big company and so does my brother so it's pretty much like I live alone. And I hesitated because my last name changed a while ago and I'm still getting used to saying it." There, a perfect lie that really was actually surprisingly truthful. Sure, the changing of the last name wasn't official, but it's still what I went by, so it counted. I guess.

Axel nodded, content with my answer. "What are some of your hobbies? What are things you like?"

"If you must know, I like to read." I said.

"Anything else?"

"Music."

"Music is good. What kind?"

"I don't know, music I like?"

He sighed. "Okay, give me some examples. What are some bands you like?"

"The Cure, Duran Duran, Relient K, Blue October, and random songs by different people." I shrugged. My music taste really was all over the place. Some songs I had were light or happy, others were depressing or metal. It all depended on my mood, really.

"Ah, so you're an 80's fan." Axel grinned.

"Yeah, I like the 80's, is that a problem?"

"Not at all, the 80's are awesome, I'm a fan myself." he said, holding up his hand as if to say that he didn't mean to sound offensive. "Are you taking any sports?"

I shook my head. "No, I'm not a very active person."

"Ah, I see." he nodded.

"Are _you_ in any sports?" I asked.

"Yup, I'm in track. Swimming is fun, but I'm not on an actual team for that, I just swim at home when I feel like it." he explained, pausing to take a bite of his ice cream. I suddenly remembered mine was melting too.

"I haven't been able to swim for a while…" I said quietly, more to myself. I remembered when we were little, Cloud and I always went over to our aunt's house and got to swim in her pool. Cloud would carry me around on his back since I was only about four at the time.

"Why is that?" Axel asked, sticking the spoon in his mouth and just leaving it there, twirling it around with his tongue.

I shook away the memories. Those times were gone, it was better if I just forgot them. "I don't know." I shrugged. "Just haven't gotten around to it. My family's pretty busy so we never really did that kind of thing."

"Hmm. yeah, I've also got busy parents. Though we've got a pool in our backyard, so I guess I could just swim whenever." he sighed, devouring the last of his ice cream. I hurried to try and finish mine, still a couple of bites left. I had forgotten how good ice cream was. How long had it been? Four years? Ever since the… incident, I never really got anything like that. Breakfast, lunch, dinner and school. That's what I did.

"So you said you've got a job, right? Where do you work?" Axel asked, pushing his empty container off to the side.

"Hy-Vee." I said.

"Do you know a girl named Namine?"

"Yeah, actually. And I already know, she's Demyx's sister, as hard as that is to believe." I sighed. "We usually end up having our shifts together."

"Yeah, she does seem pretty opposite of Demyx." he laughed.

"I just found out they were related yesterday." I said.

"Oh, so it's new news for you, then."

"Yup." I nodded, turning to look out the window, but when I did I let out a loud groan. Great, the one day I'm off work and decide to go out, and it's absolutely _pouring_. Wasn't it nice out a couple minutes ago?

"Jeez, would you look at that." Axel said under his breath, leaning over to stare out the window as well. "You can barely see ten feet in front of you."

"Driving is gonna be a pain." I sighed, and as if on cue a car skidded on a turn, but nothing serious happened and they kept driving once they got control. "How far away do you live, anyway?"

"Pretty far, actually. My house is like forty-ish minutes away from the school." Axel said.

I let out another sigh and stood up, adjusting my jacket. "Let's get going before it gets any worse." I said, pulling my hood over my head as we walked out into the rain and made a run for his car.

When we finally arrived at my house, I was gripping the handle of the door so tightly my knuckles were turning white. During our mere fifteen-minute ride, Axel had managed to skid past three red lights, go twenty miles over the speed limit, and almost get us hit by two cars and one pole. Never again was I riding in a car with this maniac. I kept my hand on the door but didn't open it. Instead, I turned to face him, staring down at the radio dials. "Um, thanks, I guess." I said.

"Anytime." Axel grinned. "See ya at school."

"Yeah." I nodded, just about ready to push on the door when he stopped me.

"Oh, hey wait," he said quickly, digging into the glove compartment in front of me before he found a piece of paper and a pen, scribbling down his name and what looked to be his phone number. "Here, text or call me or something when you get inside so I can have your number. If that's okay."

I hesitated, but took the paper and stuffed it in my pocket. "Okay." I nodded.

Once inside I took off my shoes and jacket, shaking as much of the water out of my hair as possible. It was a little after six when I stripped off my damp clothes and climbed into the shower, ready for some nice warm water to get rid of that chill that rain always left, no matter how nice the weather. Despite my constant ranting about Axel being annoying, I surprised myself with how much I actually enjoyed having ice cream with him. He asked a lot of questions, and sure I could tell that he wasn't satisfied with most of my answers, but he wasn't pushy. Well, okay, he was a little at some parts but not as much as I thought he would be. Plus I hadn't really lied to him, I just didn't tell him everything…

That didn't make me feel any better whatsoever, but maybe, just _maybe…_ Axel wasn't as bad as I thought he was. Shutting the water off and slinging a towel around my waste, I smiled to myself, but remembered the paper Axel had given me and quickly went to get my phone and the paper. After adding his number, I stopped suddenly. My thumb just wouldn't hit the call button, no matter how much I willed it to do so. After a couple futile attempts, I clicked options and opened a text message instead.

_'It's Roxas.'_ Again I hesitated in pressing send, but this time I managed to click it, letting out a breath I didn't really notice I was holding when it read '_message sent'_ on the screen.

_'hey! Great thanks :)' _he replied. My mouth twitched to a small smile when I saw the smiley face. I think I texted him for at least an hour before finally saying goodbye. Surprisingly, I fell asleep closer to midnight that night.

* * *

"You seem happy, Roxas." Namine said after handing our latest customer their bags.

"Do I?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You do. Did something… happen?" the question seemed innocent enough, but I could tell she was hinting at something.

"Sorry to disappoint you, but nothing of that sort." I said disapprovingly. "Axel made me go get ice cream with him yesterday."

"Really?" well that peaked her interest.

"Yeah. We went to Dairy Queen, talked about some random stuff, and then we left when it started raining." I explained. "But… it was kinda fun, I guess. I mean he kinda interrogated me a bit in the beginning, but he knows when to lay off."

"What did you guys talk about?" she asked.

"Well, first he asked me why exactly I moved here. That's where he started interrogating me, saying that parents moving for business wasn't the whole reason–"

"Which it isn't the reason at all." She pointed out, earning a very stern glare for interrupting me.

"–but he got that I didn't want to, and wouldn't, tell him so we talked about some other stuff. Like our interests, you know. He's actually… decent." I said, shrugging my shoulders and pausing our conversation to greet another customer and ring up their items while Namine bagged them.

"Well of course he's decent, Roxas, what did you expect him to be?" she asked, as if it were totally obvious that he was some great amazing guy or something.

"A total idiotic jerk that has no respect for personal space?" I said, giving her an innocent smile. "But… I guess I was wrong. I mean, _you_ think he's a good person, so he's gotta be. Plus… it was kinda nice to just hang out somewhere for once."

Namine smiled at that. "Well I hope you two become… good friends. Besides, it'll keep him away from my house."

"Gee thanks, nice to know you're always thinking of me." I grinned, rolling my eyes at her. Our shift continued like any other day, making small conversations in between checkouts. The store was busier today, and by the end my cheeks were literally in_ pain_ from smiling so much. It had overall been just like any other day, but the string of complaining customers seemed to be larger, and for the most stupid reasons. Now complaining for a few dollars off for discount that you didn't get I understand, but fifteen cents? Couldn't they just let it go? I swear, what goes on in those people's heads I will never know. Thankfully our shift ended around eight, the two of us taking our time to get home as we walked and talked.

"Do you have to work tomorrow?" Namine asked, digging through her bag for her keys.

"Um, only till two. Why?" I questioned.

"I have to go to the mall to get a few things, and I was wondering if you wanted to come too. I hate going in that place by myself, it's so crowded." Why did I get the feeling she was guilt tripping me into doing?

I sighed but agreed, going with my better judgment not to comment and tell her that she was a baby, because like her I hated going to the mall alone (at all, really) and knew she would just make some humiliating remark regarding that fact. I would, however, have to refrain from buying anything. Money was tight and for the time being I barely had enough to pay for everything, I couldn't go spending it on random things I didn't need.

"Great! So I'll pick you up at three thirty, okay?" She confirmed while she climbed into her car.

"Alright." I waved, stepping back so that she had room to pull out of the parking space. Once she had started to drive away, I headed over to my car a few spaces down and got in, starting the engine and driving home – much more carefully than Axel, might I add. I tossed my keys onto the kitchen counter and climbed into bed after stripping out of my work clothes, and quickly fell asleep.

I woke sweaty and panting. Kicking the covers off for air, I tried desperately to remember what my dream was about. It was a fire… and those hands. The flames had encircled me, trapping the two of us in a room, but he had taken no notice of them… I shivered and glanced at the clock. 3:21 Am. Laying back down, I let out a shaky breath and stared at the wall, trying desperately to calm myself down, but my body just wouldn't stop shaking…

Tomorrow was going to be a long day.

* * *

**I know, I know, it's kinda... short D: but I had no more ideas for this chapter and it just felt like a good idea to end it here. No worries, chapter 4 and 5 are going to be lots more fun! Things are really gonna start happening soon, so just bear with me!**


	4. A Slight Misunderstanding

**First off... I'm going to murder this computer. My internet stopped working and totally deleted my original author's note for this e_e soo this one is going to be shorter. As a summary, I will say *le gasp* I'm updating this speedy-quick compared to my usual updating gaps of months in between. Hopefully I'll keep this up since I'm very inspired with this story :D I also dedicate this chapter to all my friends who are finished with their high school career... I'll miss them bunches and hope they'll remember little ol' freshman me because I will definately remember them.**

**ENJOY!**

* * *

** Chapter 4**

**A Slight Misunderstanding**

I tapped my fingers on the counter, straightening up every time I saw a customer coming and putting on that overly fake but somehow convincible smile, waiting impatiently for my shift to be over. The place was busy with last-minute weekend shoppers, making things all the more difficult for me. I couldn't really complain though, I was being paid and if I got money then by all means, I'd smile and scan groceries for as long as I have to.

But I was excited, and that was a rare occasion in and of itself. Now don't get carried away, I wasn't bouncing off the walls crazy excited, but enough that it made me irritated at how slow time seemed to pass. Minutes felt like hours, but eventually the clock hit two and I was able to clock out for the day.

I wasted about thirty minutes taking a shower and getting dressed and the other half hour sleeping before there was a knock on my door. I quickly sat up and pulled my shoes on before pulling the door open.

Namine smiled at me, a white dress and denim jacket on with her purse in hand and white headband in her hair. "Just wake up?"

"Kinda." I laughed nervously as she helped fix my messed up spikes.

"Alright, let's get this over with." She sighed.

I nodded, following her out to her car. The ride was short, everything being close to walking distance from my car. I had come to the conclusion that if money got too tight, I'd sell my car and get a bike. But… I'd have to learn how to ride one, first. We listened to music, all pretty, different, from what I expected her to listen to. While I had imagined Namine to be the kind of person to listen to classical or pop (all that cheery stuff), she was playing songs that were more techno and electronic, along with some explicit alternative music. I must say, she had prett good taste in music.

Arriving at the mall we drove around for a bit to find a decent parking space, and miraculously found one right at the front door. Then again, it was Sunday. Not exactly the most popular day for people to go to the mall.

"Where to first?" I asked, wondering just exactly what we would be getting.

"Um, would you mind if we go to Forever 21?" She asked shyly.

I shrugged, starting towards the store. "I don't mind."

"Alright, great! We can go somewhere you want to next, and I promise I'll be quick." She smiled, clapping her hands excitedly and running ahead of me. I shook my head at her eagerness. Really, I never understood girl's fascination with shopping, but whatever. Going along with her was the least I could do for all that she's done for me. Plus I was in need of a few things too.

Stepping inside the store, I looked around for a quick second before I was dragged off into the great mass of women's clothing. It wasn't a terrible experience, really. In fact, and I would never admit this to anyone, but I kind of enjoyed running around the store with her, picking out random items of clothing that I thought she would like. Maybe fifteen minutes later we had paid and left, moving on to a different store.

"Okay, so where did you want to go?" She asked, shuffling through her bag.

"Can we stop by Hot Topic?"

"It's your choice." She said, and that was all it took for me to nearly run all the way there. I had barely ever been to this store, but I knew from the times I did that it was amazing. Favorite band t-shirts and amazing little trinkets for any nerd to enjoy. Was it heaven? No, but it was close enough for me. Despite my love for the store, we didn't stay long. I could tell Namine was a little uncomfortable being in here, and the stares we were getting weren't all that nice, so after picking up a Blink-182 t-shirt and some zombie converse (of which I would cry over the dent it put in my spending), we left.

"What time is it?" I asked, my hands full of the bags I offered to carry.

Namine took out her phone to check before putting it back in her bag. "It's about four-thirty. We can get food soon if you want."

"I'm good, is there anything else you need?"

"Yup. Just a few more stores and then I'm done." She smiled, leading me towards our next destination.

We ended up going to about seven different stores in all. Mostly we were getting Namine some things, like a new camera, shoes, and some clothes, but every now and then I would pick something up that she offered to buy me (not after my two minute protests of how it was her money and I didn't want her to waste it on me, of course).

It was in JC Penny, though, when Namine had her _idea_. We were picking out a few things for myself when we passed the dresses. Namine stopped, staring at them, and at first I thought she was just admiring them until she slowly turned to smile at me. And let me tell you, that was the scariest smile I had ever seen.

"Hey, Roxas?" She asked innocently, tilting her head with that damn smile on her face. "Would you do me a favor?"

"Uh, yeah, what?" I asked, slightly nervous. I didn't really know what to expect.

"It's just, I've been working on this project someone commissioned, but I just can't get it right… So do you think you would mind wearing one or two of those dresses for me, so I can draw it from life?" she looked down at her feet, as if completely embarrassed by the request. Psh, like she'd let me refuse anyway.

Not that I didn't try to protest. In fact, my face went completely white and my body went stiff. "Um, Nami, you know I'm all for helping you with your artwork and stuff… but we're kind of in a _mall_. With _people_."

"I don't have any dresses at home that would work, Roxas. Please?" She begged, her eyes widening like saucers. "It'll only be for a couple of minutes. I won't even make you leave the dressing room."

I sighed, then groaned. "Whatever… _two minutes_." I warned.

She instantly brightened, jumping excitedly and clapping her hands together. "Oh thank you! All right, first to find a dress and make sure it fits! Come with me."

It had to have taken at least five minutes to get the dress on correctly. She had to choose the most complicated one in the whole store. Did she think I had done this before or something? Just tossing me into the little dressing room with some ruffly blue dress with a ton of criss-crossing strings in the back and expecting me to know exactly how to put it on, I mean seriously.

I stared at myself in the mirror and my face went completely red. God forbid anyone I knew saw me like this… Just imagining the thought made me nauseous. "Nami… I don't want to come out." I complained.

"Oh just come out already, you've been in there forever. It won't be that long, I promise." She coaxed, and I slowly pushed open the door, peaking my head out first. She practically turned into a crazed fangirl when I came out completely. After the squealing she began sketching rapidly in her book, and I tried to ignore the stares I got from the one or two women who walked by. Namine finally closed her sketchbook and smiled. "Okay, one more. I'll go get you something else, just wait here, or back in your changing room."

I nodded, retreating back into the tiny square room, closed the door, and began my wait. It had to have been ten minutes before I started to get nervous. It didn't take that long to find a dress, did it? I called out to her a couple of times with a hesitant "Namine…? You out there…?" When there was no answer, I waited a few more minutes before finally walking out to go find her.

The second I stepped out of the dressing room, I regretted it completely. Standing not ten feet from the entrance was Namine, dress in hand… chatting away with Axel. The two turned to look at me, and Axel instantly burst out into fits of laughter. In all of my waiting and worry, I had forgotten to take off the dress.

I felt all the color drain from my face before flaring, no doubt redder than his hair. Namine tried to contain her giggles, but I knew she thought it was hilarious. Within seconds his phone was out, snapping pictures. Words had failed me, and as soon as the pictures were being taken, I fled back into the dressing room and locked the door. Practically ripping it in the process, I took off the dress as fast as I could, sitting against the door with a huff once I was dressed. I couldn't believe I was stupid enough to walk out there wearing a dress. I shouldn't have even let her make me wear a dress anyway! '_God, I'm such an idiot.'_

There was a knock on the door. "Hey Roxas, come on, it's not that bad." Axel laughed, continuously knocking. "If it makes you feel any better, I got dared to run around outside in a dress once. The pictures spread _everywhere_."

I stood, and unlocked the door, staring up at the tall redhead for a second. I grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulled him down so our noses were almost touching, and glared at him. "If you tell _anyone_ about this, I will _kill _you." Sadly, although I was trying to sound angry, I was much too embarrassed and my face was still too bright of red for me to be taken seriously.

"Alright, alright." He chuckled, prying my fingers off of his shirt. "Lets just get out of the girls dressing room, shall we? Hey, why don't I treat you guys to dinner?"

I groaned, but Namine smiled. "That would be great! Thank you!"

"No problem! Least I can do after walking in on… whatever it was I walked in on." He paused for a second to think, and then turned to grin at me. "What I mean is, think of it as an apology. How about ice cream after?" I grumbled in agreement, glaring off to my side. At least I was out of that stupid dress.

Namine and Axel got along surprisingly well. Then again, she was his best friend's sister, but they were closer than I thought they would be. After getting some fast food and we had finished our ice cream, it was coming close to seven thirty, and time for us to leave. Namine and I waved Axel goodbye, thanking him for the food before we headed out to her car. Somewhere along the way I stopped brooding about our incident and began to enjoy their company. The ride home was silent, and I was thankful I got home when I did because I had started to doze off in the car.

I fell asleep mere seconds after my head hit the pillow.

LINEBREAK

I sighed, sliding into my seat behind next to Sora. The second I sat down, he was talking. "Roxas! Oh my gosh you would not believe what happened this weekend!" he said excitedly, practically bouncing in his seat.

I raised an eyebrow, feigning curiosity.

"So I told you about Riku, right?" I nodded, even though I couldn't remember. It was probably one of those days when I didn't pay attention at all. "Okay, so on Friday, we were hanging out, and he kissed me! Again! That's the second time!" Wait, what. "And so after that we kind of talked a bit and he asked me out… So I said yes!"

I stared in awe. "Um, congrats?"

His face suddenly fell into a worried frown. "Wait, you don't have anything against me being gay, right?"

I shook my head. "No I don't mind."

"Really? Great! Because one of my friends is totally anti-gay and it makes me sad." He pouted, turning in his seat. I wondered to myself why they were friends if he was gay and his friend was so against it. "So Roxas, do you have a home phone? I mean you said you don't have a cell phone, but I still think it would be cool if we could keep in touch!"

I thought for a moment. Maybe it was because I was just in a good mood (why I was I have no idea), but I sighed and pulled out my cell phone. A little white lie wouldn't hurt. "I got one over the weekend, so you can put your number in."

Sora clapped excitedly, typing in his number at lightning speed. "I sent myself a message too so I have your number."

I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and nodded. The bell rang, signaling the end of homeroom and after waving goodbye I headed to my classes for the morning. The day seemed to go by pretty fast, really. Before I knew it I was sitting in the cafeteria in between Axel and some girl, Demyx sitting on Axel's right. I had stopped protesting my daily lunch with them. I knew he wasn't going to give up any time soon so I figured that I would quit fighting it… and no it was not because I was actually enjoying his company, where did you ever get that idea?  
Surprisingly, Axel had kept our little incident at the mall between him, Namine and me. Or at least, it seemed that way. I had the feeling that if Demyx knew he would have been harassing me about it, and that wasn't happening. It wasn't like he didn't say that he saw us at the mall, though.

"Yeah, we bumped into each other at Pennies." Axel explained, pausing to take a bite of his sandwich. I noticed that he always seemed to get the same thing every day, but then again so did I. "He was at the mall with Namine. So how long have you two been dating?"

Both Demyx and I choked on the food in our mouths, exclaiming a surprised "WHAT?" at the same time.

"You're dating my sister?" Demyx yelled.

"I'm not! We work together! She's my friend, that's it!" I said, waving my hands quickly.

"Are you serious?" Axel asked, raising an eyebrow and looking almost as surprised as I was. "Namine doesn't hang out with really anyone, let alone guys. I thought it was because you two were together. My bad."

"Oh that's a relief…" Demyx said, practically deflating back into his seat with a hand on his chest. "Not like I don't like you Rox, but I'm just not ready for my little sis to have a boyfriend."

I shook my head and sighed. "Jeez, Axel… Don't just jump to conclusions! Just because we were hanging out together doesn't mean we're dating. Besides I…" but I didn't finish the sentence.

"You what?" Axel asked. I felt my face start to go red.

I begged whatever almighty being there was up in the sky that he would just drop it. "Nothing."

Sadly it didn't seem like they heard me. "No no no, come on. You can't just leave us hanging like that."  
"It's none of your business!" I yelled.

"I'm sure whatever it is can't be that bad." He chuckled reassuringly.

"It's not bad it's just embarrassing!"

"Well I can see that, you're face is bright red." I looked away, hiding my face. "You're making this so much more complicated than it should be."

"I don't like girls, okay!" I snapped, glaring at him. "There, I said it. Happy now?"

There was silence, and then laughter. Axel tired to hide it behind his hand, but it was obvious he thought it was funny. But as soon as he composed himself he did look genuinely surprised along with - and maybe it was my imagination - excited. Or maybe relieved. Well, it was some kind of happy, but again it could have just been all in my mind. "I never would have thought you swung that way, Roxy."

"Well, whatever, now you know." I grumbled, avoiding his gaze.

Finally Demyx chimed in. "It's not that big of a deal, you know. I'm gay too! And, well, Axel's pan."

"I told you you were making it a bigger deal than it is." Axel grinned.

I shrugged. "It's still embarrassing to say! I've only told like two people, okay? And what's pan?"

"Pansexual. It means that I like you for who you are, not what gender you are. It also doesn't matter if you're like trans or asexual or something." He explained, a smug grin on his face.

I nodded in understanding. If it weren't for my genuine dislike of all things womanly, I probably would have been too. But alas, girls were too demanding and a certain… _body part_ scared the living crap out of me.

"Soo…" Axel said, leaning into my side and wiggling his eyebrows. "Is there anybody you like?"

I glared, pushing him away. "Sorry to disappoint, but I don't like anyone and I would rather not bother with relationships at the moment."

"Oh really? Well that's sad to hear, I'm sure there are plenty of willing closet-gays who would love to go on a date with you."

"For example?" I asked skeptically.

Axel just shrugged, grinning the entire time. "Oh, I don't know. I'm just saying that you're going to make a lot of people disappointed by wasting such a cute face being by yourself."

I stared at him, and after a moment of silence shook my head. "Axel… you're weird."

"Haters be hatin'." He said matter-of-fact-ly. We continued or lunch together without anymore conversations worth telling, mostly talking about the latest movies that were coming out or a homework assignment that never got finished.

As soon as school was out I went home to change into my work uniform before heading to Hy-Vee. I didn't get to see Namine until our dinner break due to the fact that I was stuck with rearranging the bread display and restocking food items. When we did see each other, I didn't hesitate in telling her about our mishap in the cafeteria.

"Axel thought we were dating?" She asked after a few quiet laughs.

"Yeah." I said dreadfully.

"Well don't act like it's such a horrible thought, jeez." She joked, feigning upset.

"Nam, the idea of dating you is like dating a sister." I deadpanned. "I like you in such a different way that it's almost scary."

"I know, I know." She smiled. "You're kinda like a brother to me too. A stubborn little brother that I have to take care of."

I rolled my eyes. "Thanks so much."

"Speaking of taking care, how is everything at home?" she asked.

I sighed, leaning back in my chair. "Money's kinda tight but I've got enough to buy food so I'm doing okay. It would be nice to have a TV or something but for one those cost way too much and I second mom would probably die when she saw the electricity bill if I did. She's already helping out, I don't want to take that for granted."

"You're too kind for your own good, Roxas." She smiled.

"I beg to differ."

At this Namine laughed. "Well, you know what I mean. You care a lot for the people you love."

I hummed, not really agreeing or disagreeing. I had never really thought that I was that much of a caring person. I saw myself as more selfish, really. Running away just because I couldn't handle my life at home. I wasn't the only one suffering, but I left, and my mom and brother were still willing to help me. I just didn't want to give them any more trouble than I already had, I never considered that caring.

I got home shortly after ten and finished my homework, ready to climb into bed and read a book when my phone buzzed. It was a message from Axel.

_'Hey, you still up?'_

_'Yeah'_ I replied.

_'Coolio! Whatcha doin?'_ I snorted at his vocabulary. Coolio? Really?

_'I was going to read.'_

_'Ooh sorry for interrupting you then.'_ He said.

I laid down, snuggling under the covers and yawning. It had to be close to one in the morning by now. _'It's fine. What are you doing up so late?'_

_ 'Shouldn't I be asking you that?' _I could just picture him laughing with that stupid grin on his face. _'This is early for me.'_

_ 'Hm… I usually go to bed at like 4.'_

_ 'You should get more sleep, no wonder you're always so spacey at school.'_

I glared at the phone, hoping he could sense it through his phone. _'Whatever.' _He didn't reply right away, and as we talked for a while longer I began falling asleep in between messages, and after sending one last reply I closed my eyes and drifted to sleep. If I did get a message after that, it never woke me up.

* * *

**Woohoo! Well that was exciting xD Haha I'm too obsessed with the idea of Roxas in a dress... I have a whole story based around him being a crossdresser with... a rather interesting life of bad choices and all the drama that comes with it. Hey, maybe I'll put that one on too... once I finish chapter 2 xD So anyway, please review! I'm seriously begging. Hands and knees, on the floor, eyes watering. I BEG YOU.**


	5. Butterflies

**Here we go everybody, chapter five! Sorry for making you wait like, a month 1/2, I kind of got really lazy with my writing, ehehehe... But it's all good now! No more procrastination from me! (haha, yeah right...) Well I'll try to update quickly, because I'm excited now. Please enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Butterflies**

"So why are we here again?" I asked, staring at some cryptic, sketchy looking arcade we were standing in front of. After being very rudely awoken by my phone going off multiple times due to what I would consider harassment via text messaging, Axel had shown up at eleven in the morning, nearly two seconds after I had been woken up, standing on my doorstep and practically dragged me out. That is, of course, after I got dressed and ready. This is how I ended up standing in front of this scary looking arcade, Demyx and Axel on either side of me.

"Because, Roxas, you're our friend, and we can't leave our friend sitting alone at their house for hours on a wonderful Saturday!" Axel exclaimed, a huge grin spread across his face.

"I do have a job, you know. I can't stay here forever." I told him.

"Well just let us know when you need to go and we'll take you home! Easy as that." He said. I rolled my eyes.

"Come on guys, what are we standing out here for?" Demyx asked, almost whining. "Lets go inside!" And with that, Axel grabbed my hand and the two dashed inside, dragging me along with them.

The inside… was nothing what I thought it would be. While the outside was old and looked like a place where drugs were made or something, the inside was dimly lit, with colorful lights strewn about and what seemed like every kind of arcade game _imaginable_. I stared in awe, snapping back to reality minutes later when Axel appeared beside me after paying for us, nudging me and laughing. "See? It's not so bad. We've been coming here since we could walk, it's like heaven on earth."

"Okay! What first guys?" Demyx asked, the excitement clear in his voice.

"Racing?" Axel suggests, and when we all agree to that, we speed off like rockets, this new energy inside me. I had never really been to an arcade before, as stupid as that may sound. The closest to one I've been was at the mall when we were little, and then we didn't even play any of the games, Cloud and I just played around in this big ball pin. We only went about twice.

After racing – Demyx winning the first round and Axel winning the last two with me in the sorry state of last place – Demyx and I played a shooting game, which resulted in me screaming every time a zombie attacked me and my ammo ran out (it had to have taken me at least five minutes to figure out how to load the freaking gun). Axel just watched, laughing his head off as I tried in vain to shoot all of them, jumping wildly when I finally hit a few, only to be killed right after when I wasn't paying attention.

Afterwards I watched Axel and Demyx play Tekken 5, Demyx winning one round and Axel winning two. I watched from the side, amazing at how easily he pressed a multitude of buttons to make interesting combos. When he won the second time, he grinned at me. "You should try, Roxy."

I shook my head. "Ah, um, no I don't know how to play."

"Oh come on, just give it a shot. I'll teach you." He said, pulling me up to the controls. Instead of standing on the side and telling me what commands to do like I thought he was going to do, Axel stood behind me, hands over mine and guiding them over the controls, explaining each one as they were demonstrated on the screen. I tried not to focus too much on the fact that his chest was completely pressed against my back. _'Namine would have a fit if she saw this.'_

The two of us beat Demyx, just barely, and Axel stepped away. "Alright, now try without my help." He instructed.

I nodded, nervous to try it out for myself.

"You ready?" Demyx asked, grinning when I nodded once more and we chose our characters. I ended up loosing the next two rounds, but not without a good fight. Well, the second time I did better… the first was absolutely horrible. I had forgotten all of the keys and ended up pressing random buttons, trying to pay attention to the commands Axel was telling me and which buttons went with which.

Turns out I was horrible at street fighting games. In fact, I was pretty bad at all combat games, whether it was Shoot-The-Zombies or Soul Calibur. However, racing and any other kind of game I was all right. Heck I even managed to win a couple of times, but it was obvious the two of them had been coming here for a long time and knew their stuff.

It seemed like most of the games were only two player except for the racing games, but we all did a fairly good job at alternating turns. Besides, even when one of us wasn't playing, at least to me I still felt like a very good part of it as the one-man cheer squad.

We took a break a good three hours in at a small area off in one corner that sold food and had some tables to sit at; the three of us worn out from running around finding any game we thought was interesting. They didn't sell much, but the salted pretzels and cheese were absolutely amazing. I couldn't remember the last time I had one of these. Axel found it hilarious that I was practically praising my food, but all I did was glare at him while my mouth had little tiny food orgasms. I felt like I was in heaven, or at least close to it.

"Okay, so what next?" Demyx asked, taking a drink of his soda.

"More games?" I wondered, but maybe the better question was 'do we even have any more games that we could play?'

"I think we've played all of them, Roxy." Axel said.

"We could go somewhere else." Demyx suggested. "Hey, we could go to my house! I've got Mario Cart and stuff like that."

Axel turned to me. "You game?"

"I probably need to get to work." I said, checking my phone as we left. I didn't really need to, I never expected calls or anything unless they were from Axel, but it was kind of becoming a habit. Damn that stupid redhead for getting me addicted to texting.

"Awe, that sucks." Demyx pouted.

"Well that just means you'll have to hang out with us again and enjoy the amazing awesomeness of Demyx's house." Axel grinned. I just rolled my eyes. We all left the building and made our way out to Demyx's car. Contrary to popular belief, he was a_ much_ safer driver than Axel. There were no almost-accidents this time, and I made it home in one piece.

It was close to two thirty by the time I was dressed and ready for work, taking the time to shower and brush my teeth – things I hadn't been able to do in the morning thanks to the two idiots I was finding myself becoming friends with. I sighed, checking my phone once again, and started driving.

Namine was ecstatic when I told her about our little get together. I didn't really know why but she seemed to be dead set on making Axel and I bests friends, and to my surprise I wasn't really that opposed to the idea. It was kind of weird, if I looked back on it. At first I had thought Axel was a stubborn, stupid idiot and I just wanted him to leave me alone, but now... I was actually kind of enjoying my time with him. I would even say we were friends, but I still didn't know that much about him.

"If you want to get to know him, you've gotta open up first." Namine told me after a long line of customers had made it through. Today, I was bagging groceries while she handled the check out, a nice break for me. "Go out- ah um I mean you know, hang out together, like when you got ice cream and just sit and talk."

"Nami, you know I don't-" I started to protests, but she shook her head at me.

"I'm not saying you have to tell him everything right off the bat, that takes time. What I mean is, get to know each other. Talk about little things, like hobbies and stuff." She smiled.

I sighed. "But I don't really… have a hobby. Unless you call trying to earn enough money to pay for everything a hobby."

"You like reading, don't you?"

"Well yeah, but mainly because there's nothing else better to do at home. It's more of a necessary pastime than a hobby."

"Everyone has a hobby, Roxas." She said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah well I guess I don't."

"What else do you like to do, then?"

"Sleep."

Namine rolled her eyes. "You're hopeless."

"That's why you love me." I grinned. We didn't have much time for conversation after that, the lines busy with weekend grocery shopping. We did, however, earn a dinner break. After getting our food (Namine buying me some of the Chinese food from the little Hy-Vee restaurant) we sat down in one of the booths in the corner.

"So then, if you want me to hang out with him so badly what should we do?" I asked, taking a bite of my peanut butter chicken.

"Well you could do lots of things." She shrugged, pausing to take a sip of her soda. "You could see a movie, or have dinner, or do your ice cream thing again, maybe hang out at his or your house."

I stared at her for a second. "Nami, I'm not asking him out on a date, I'm asking him to hang out. I need things less... date-like."

"What are you talking about? You don't have to be dating to do any of those things!" when I didn't respond, she sighed. "Why don't_ you_ just choose something?"

"Because I don't know him as well as you do." I took another bite of my chicken, swallowing quickly. I couldn't remember the last time I had good food. "I don't want to just pick something that only I'll enjoy."

"Well, he likes baseball, but there aren't exactly any games coming up soon… He's kind of obsessed with video games. I've only been there twice, but Axel's got a lot of games at his house. He's got more than Demyx! And that's saying something." She grinned.

"We just went to an arcade today." I said, letting out a sigh. Why was I so obsessed over what we should do, anyway?

"Well you could go to his house is what I'm saying. Or just go hang out somewhere, I don't know Roxas, Axel's easily entertained so it shouldn't be hard to think of something." She said, taking a bite of her food.

"Fine, whatever I'll just ask him." I grumbled, my mind now focused on the new idea of why I was so hung up on this, and why it felt like such a big deal. We got back to work once our plates were cleaned, a lot less people showing up as midday turned to night. At ten we got our things and left, chatting on the way out until we both got in our cars and drove in separate directions.

As soon as I got home I tossed my shoes and jacket onto the floor and fell onto the couch face first, pulling out my phone from my pocket. I had meant to text Axel and ask him if he wanted to hang out on one of the days I didn't have to work right after school, but I ended up just staring at the screen for a good half hour. Shaking my head, I opened a new message.

_'Hey I was wondering if you wanted to do something tomorrow.'_ I stared for a minute, wondering if that was really the right way to ask. Eventually I pressed send, holding my breath until he answered.

_'Sure! What did you have in mind?'_ he asked.

I thought for a second. _'I don't know.'_

_'Well you could come over here, not much to do but I've got video games and movies and stuff.'_ He offered, and I let out a sigh of relief. I didn't have to pick anything after all.

_'Okay sure. I've got work at 6 though so I can't stay long.'_

_'No problem. Hey I'll pick you up in the morning so we don't have to worry about your car.'_

_ 'You sure?'_

_ "Yup! You're on the way anyway, so it won't cut into time at all.'_

_'If you say so.'_ I sighed, hanging my head over the edge of the couch as we continued to text. As the night dragged on, I frowned. The idea of going over to his house… something about it made my stomach feel weird, and I wasn't sure if I liked the feeling.

* * *

I woke up early the next morning, despite the lack of sleep I had gotten. It was Axel's fault, anyway. If it weren't for him I wouldn't have been up till one in the morning texting, nor would I have been up for a good three more hours because my stomach kept jumping all over the place. Yup, it was all Axel's fault. All of it.

After going through my morning routine (shower, teeth, clothes, and medicine) I grabbed a Nutrigrain bar to eat before Axel showed up. I only finished half of it when I heard a knock on the door, and stuffing the rest in my mouth I put on my shoes and jacket quickly before opening the door.

"In a bit of a rush?" Axel grinned, using his thumb to rub off some of the fruity mush from the Nutrigrain bar that strayed from my mouth.

I glared at him and swatted his hand away, swallowing the rest of my food. I did my best to ignore that stupid churning in my stomach that had been going on all night and suddenly started up again. Why was I getting so worked up anyway? I mean come on, it was _Axel_. "Let's go, I don't want to be late." I pushed past him, heading down the steps and to his car.

"Jeez bossy-pants, we're not gonna be late." Axel said, climbing into the drivers seat as I had just finished buckling in. "Alrighty, lets go!"

I had forgotten how much of a reckless driver he was. Well, I guess reckless wasn't really the word, but… I didn't know how to describe it. He managed to go almost forty miles over the speed limit, run three red lights, avoid at least six car crashes, and _never _get hit or pulled over by the police. Part of me wondered if he ever did racing sometime during his life.

When we arrived at the school, safe but slightly shaken, I groaned as I slung my backpack over my shoulder. "Axel, can you please drive more carefully?"

"What are you talking about? I am extremely careful when I drive." He grinned, locking his car. "But if it makes you feel better, I'll drive closer to the speed limit."

"I'm not sure if that makes me feel any better." I mumbled to myself, but followed behind him as he walked towards the school. If my phone was correct, we had about ten minutes before the bell rang to get to homeroom. Usually I got there with only a couple minutes left, what was I supposed to do in the mean time? Unsure of what to do, I walked along side Axel, following him into the cafeteria.

"So how come I never see you before school, Roxy?" he asked while he was picking out what to have for breakfast.

I shrugged. "I'm never early."  
"I'm usually pretty early. If you ever do get here early, Demyx and I are usually in here."

Nodding, I watched as he held up two different poptarts, examining both closely then turning to me. "Cherry or Blueberry?"

I pointed to the one in his right hand. "Blueberry."

"Good choice." he said, but placed both on his plate and headed over to pay for everything. Once we got to his table he pulled up two chairs, him taking the one next to Demyx and leaving me to sit in between him and the pink haired boy I learned was named Marluxia. To my surprise Axel placed one of the two poptarts he bought in front of me. I had learned from the past couple of lunches with Axel that it was best not to argue when he gave me food, and that the reason he had asked which one I liked in the first place was that it was going to be for me anyway. So, without saying a word, I ripped open the silver package and took a bite.

"You're early, did you get a ride from Axel today?" Marluxia asked.

I quickly swallowed the poptart in my mouth and nodded. "Um, yeah. We're hanging out later, so we thought it would be easier if he just picked me up, so I don't have to worry about my car."

He smiled, resting his chin in his hand. "You two have gotten awfully close, haven't you."

"W-what do you mean? I don't think we're that close..." I mumbled, blushing slightly. Darn him, and I had just gotten rid of those stupid butterflies, too. But why were they coming back now?

"Well maybe not by most people's standards, but for both of yours I'd say you two are definitely close. I mean, you're usually quite and don't talk, but when you're with Axel you're always lively." he explained, sighing to himself.

I thought for a second, wondering if that were true. I never thought of us as very close, but looking back I had hardly talked to anyone besides him and Demyx. In fact this was probably the first time I'd spoken more than a few words to Marluxia. I wondered what he meant when he said 'both' of our standards, though. Axel didn't seem like he was much of a quiet person, so it had to be something else, but what was it?

"Hey, Marly don't go putting ideas in his head!" Axel called, snapping my out of my thoughts.

"What, me?" he said, pretending to look hurt but soon smiled. "I'm simply having a friendly conversation, and maybe helping him realize some things."

"What are you talking about?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You can learn a lot from someone in a short amount of time if you pay enough attention, even just by having lunch with them every day. Of course, it helps to have a knack for reading people. I'm sure you'll figure it out soon enough." He winked, grabbing his backpack. "Well, bell's about to ring so I'm off to class." and with that he walked out of the cafeteria, leaving me very confused.

As he had said, only a few seconds later the bell rang and everyone was filing out of the cafeteria, dumping our trash on the way out. We walked side by side, Axel chatting with Demyx while I kept my eyes on the ground, trying to figure out what exactly Marluxia had meant. What was I supposed to find out? And dammit all, why wouldn't these freaking butterflies go away?

* * *

**Ooottay here we are, chapter five! Please review and I'll try to have chapter six up sometime next week! Thank you all for reading and don't forget to review :)**


	6. Meet the Family

**Hey hey hey! Hows it goin'? So things are going to be getting interesting fairly soon. Not much to say so please enjoy this chapter!**

**_EDIT_**

**Sooo I made a mistake relating back to chapter one with Aerith... forgot I made her the counselor! But I fixed that up real quick. Just a few extra sentences in this chapter to change a few things, plus this will make it more interesting in the chapters to come o3o**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Meet the Family**

I came to realize as the day went on that not only would the butterflies in my stomach refuse to go away, but got worse and worse the closer it got to the end of school. I did my best to ignore it, but the only thing I could do was try and occupy my mind with something else. Halfway through the day I had about a page and a half in my notebook full of random stick people, seeing as I didn't have the concentration to actually draw something decent (and I lost my pencil).

Although I didn't know why exactly I was reacting like this, I knew it had to do with the fact that I would be going to Axel's house after school. I tried to tell myself that I was just nervous to be going over to his house since I had never been there before, and honestly hadn't been to anyone's house for a long time, but I had the feeling it was probably more than that.

I didn't say much the first half of lunch and thankfully for me, Axel was distracted by a story Demyx was telling him that I didn't pay much attention to other than that it had something to do with guitars and drums.

Marluxia showed up in the middle of lunch and pulled up a chair next to me. We sat in silence while I poked at my lunch and he ate his sandwich. I jumped when he suddenly spoke to me. "Feeling alright, Roxas?"

"Oh, yeah, I'm fine." I nodded, trying to act like I hadn't almost let out a very unmanly yelp.

"You wouldn't happen to be... nervous, would you?" he asked.

I shook my head quickly and did my best to laugh. "Why would I be nervous? I've got nothing to be nervous about, I'm perfectly fine."

"Maybe because you're going to be spending the whole afternoon with Axel... _alone_?" he grinned, his voice getting gradually quieter as he leaned in closer.

I glanced over at Axel, who took a large bite of his spaghetti and turned to look at me. He grinned, quickly eating his food and raising an eyebrow. "Your face is all red, Roxy."

I looked away glaring at Marluxia when I heard him chuckling.

"What did you do to him, Marly? He's redder than my hair!" Axel asked.

Marluxia shook his head, smiling. "I didn't do anything. Boy, you two are clueless as ever."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Axel yelled.

"It wouldn't be fun if I told you, now would it?" he said.

Axel scoffed. "Yeah fun for you, maybe. Whatever you're planning, quit it."

"Axel I'm helping you, trust me." Marluxia assured him, but he didn't look very relieved. I had the feeling Marluxia had the habit of messing with other people's business. As soon as Axel turned away, he motioned for me to come closer for me to hear him whispering. "Don't worry, Roxas, you've got nothing to worry about, besides, you don't really think you're the only one who's nervous, do you?"

I thought for a moment, giving him a questioning look. Did he mean Axel was worrying over this too? Despite the new thoughts bubbling into my head, the conversation was able to get my mind more off of the butterflies in my stomach. Instead I was busy trying to figure out what he was trying to get us to figure out. The day went on rather quickly after that. I didn't play attention to my classes and the lack sleep the night before was catching up to me.

As my last class slowly came to an end, I willed my legs to move as I headed outside to find Axel' car. Of course, it wasn't that hard when he's standing right next to it. His hair is kind of hard to miss.

"Alright Roxy, ready to go?" he asked, climbing into the drivers seat. I got in the passenger side, stuffing my backpack down by my feet, and nodded. While Axel drove (surprisingly not as reckless as the last few times) towards his house I started to doze off. Resting my head against the leather seat, I drifted in and out of consciousness, glad that even if it wasn't the most comfortable sleeping place in the world at least I didn't feel like my stomach was in a blender anymore.

I was awoken by a hand on my shoulder, gently shaking me. "Wake up sleeping beauty, we're here." Groaning, I sat up straight and rubbed my eyes, looking to my left to find the drivers seat empty. "Over here." Axel said, standing in front of the open car door to my right.

"Mmm... sorry, didn't get much sleep." I yawned, grabbing my backpack and climbing out of the car.

He places his hand on my head, ruffling my hair. I remembered back when my brother would always do that when he saw me. Clearing my throat I quickly pushed his hand away. "No worries."

It took me a couple seconds to take in the house in front of me. Now, coming from a rich family, I had seen plenty of large houses in my time, but this wasn't a house. This was a full blown mansion (and really freaking close to the size of a castle). Obviously when he said he was rich, he _really_ meant he was rich.

"Careful, you'll catch flies." he chuckled, poking me in the nose and walking up to the front door. I glared at him and then ran to catch up. We left our shoes at the door and stopped in the kitchen. "Want something to drink? We've got Mountain Dew, Dr. Pepper, orange juice, and fruit punch."

"Um, Dr. Pepper." I said, looking around the giant house. Everything seemed so... white. It was almost eerie in a way. You would expect to see a place like this full of people, but there didn't seem to be anyone.

"Cool, alright. So, what should we do? I've got a TV in my room with all my games, if you wanna play something." he offered, grabbing a Mountain Dew for himself and showing me the way upstairs. We tossed our backpacks on the floor and once again I was amazed at the amount of space in his room, but unlike the rest of the house it was full of all kinds of things. There were shelves full of books, games and CD's, a flat screen TV, a king-sized bed in the corner, and a guitar sitting up in another corner. There were some clothes on the floor and game consoles spread out in front of the TV but other than that the room wasn't messy at all. The walls were navy blue with an off white carpet and the bed had black and white sheets with pillows in red, white and black. To put it simply, it was every boy's dream room. But I still couldn't shake the fact that the whole place seemed so empty.

"Hey, Axel? Is anyone else here?" I asked, not really sure how I was supposed to word the question.

"Not right now, everyone's at work and my sister's probably with her friends." he said, motioning for me to come over to the TV. "Take your pick."

I sat in front of the shelf of video games, skimming through each name to find one that seemed familiar. After a good couple minutes I pulled out Super Mario Bros and handed it to him.

Seeing the game I chose Axel laughed and shook his head but put it in the Wii console anyway, handing me a controller and sitting down on the floor. I did the same, crossing my legs and waiting for him to start the game. Honestly I was really excited. I always used to play some kind of Mario game when I was younger, but it had been forever since the last time. Of course, playing on a Wii was probably a little different from playing on a Gameboy.

We started on the very first level, and to my surprise I was able to learn the controls pretty quickly. Not to say I didn't die a lot, but I was still better than I thought I would be. Even Axel seemed impressed.

"Ever played this before, Roxy?" he asked, loosing his last life and leaving me to get through the level on my own.

I shook my head. "Not on a Wii. I played on the Gameboy but that's it."

"Seems like you're a natural." he grinned, ruffling my hair.

"I'm not that good." I sighed and set down my controller. I had reached the end and we were going to be moving on to the very last level of the second world.

"Well you're better than me, and I'm not exactly a rookie, so I'd say you are in fact a natural at this." he decided, pausing the game to stretch.

In the short break we were taking I heard a door slam closed and the sound of feet running up the stairs. Axel sighed, mumbling something under his breath that sort of sounded like 'oh god she's here'. After a couple seconds someone was knocking on the door.

"If you're doing anything nasty you have ten seconds before I come in!" a girl yelled. I took a guess that this was his sister. Not even five seconds later she threw open the door, shielding her eyes and only peeking through the cracks in her fingers. She saw us sitting on the floor and let out a sigh of relief, dropping her hands.

"What do you want, Kairi?" Axel growled.

"Reno told me to make sure you two weren't doing anything gross. Plus I wanted to see your new friend for myself." she said, looking over at me with an outstretched hand. "I'm Kairi, and anything that my idiot of a big brother has told you about me probably isn't true."

"I'm Roxas," I said, shaking her hand. "and don't worry, he hasn't really said much about you at all."

Kairi nodded, glancing between the two of us before focusing on Axel. "So, does this mean you finally-" however Axel was suddenly on his feet, a hand clamped tightly over his sisters mouth and keeping her from finishing the sentence.

"Kairi," he growled, breath slightly ragged and his face slightly pink. I raised an eyebrow. Why was Axel... _blushing_? He pulled his hand away quickly, making a disgusted look and wiping his palm on his jeans. "Ew, you licked my hand!"

"Well don't put your hand on my face!" she said, sticking her tongue out. "I guess I'll take that as a no. Oh, and by the way, dinner's ready." with that, she was running out into the hall and down the stairs.

I stood up, looking at Axel. His face was now back to normal. "What was that about?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it. It's just Kairi being Kairi." he said, motioning for me to follow him. "Come on, you've gotta try some of my mom's cooking. And, uh, I'm going to warn you now. My family is kind of... loud."

I nodded in understanding, kind of excited to meet them but at the same time very nervous. I wasn't expecting to have to meet them; both Axel and Marluxia had made it sound like we would be alone the entire time. I couldn't understand why but I felt kind of... disappointed. Clearing my thoughts, I stayed close behind as we headed down the stairs to the kitchen.

Dinner was nothing like I had ever experienced. While I was used to either eating alone or sitting quietly at the dinner table with the occasional small talk about school or business, I wasn't prepared for this. When we first walked through the kitchen to get to the table I was greeted by a very beautiful woman with long brown hair that was pulled back into a ponytail. "Oh! Hello Roxas."

"Mrs... Gainsborough?" I asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.

"That's right!" she winked. "Axel, why didn't you bring him down and introduce him to everyone sooner?"

"I didn't know you guys were home until Kairi came up." he explained.

"Well Roxas, I'm Aerith, Axel's mother." she smiled, clasping her hands together.

Remembering my manners I smiled and held out my hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Now! It's time for dinner. I hope you like spaghetti?" I nodded, following Axel into the dining room. I was surprised that the second I walked into the room an arm wrapped around my neck and pulled me into a headlock. "So this is the famous Roxas!" at first I thought it was Axel who said that, but then I picked up on the slight difference in their voices. Calming my the rush of panic, I looked up to see what could have been his twin, but he was slightly older and had a very long ponytail. "Man have we heard a lot about you. Ya know that kid over there hardly ever stops talkin' bout you? Gotta say, I'm impressed! It's not every day you see Ax turned into teenage girl."

I blushed, struggling to get out of the other Axel's grip and trying to figure out what he was saying.

"Reno! Let him go, jeez." Axel yelled, and when I was released I noticed his face was that tiniest hint of pink and he wouldn't look me in the eye. It made me curious.

"Boys, sit down!" Aerith said sternly, hitting them both on the head with a wooden spoon. "Where is your hospitality? Axel, show Roxas his seat and Reno for goodness sake, leave the poor kid alone."

"Sorry mum..." they said in unison, everyone taking their seat. Axel and I sat next to each other, with Reno and Kairi across from us and Aerith sitting on the end.

Dinner was... exciting. For the most part I sat in silence while everyone around me laughed and talked about their day, half-heartedly arguing here and there. Sometimes I'd be asked a question and politely answer, always receiving some kind of feedback. I learned that Aerith, also one of the school's counselors, was remarried and that explained the difference in their last names.

After finishing dinner I said my goodbyes to his family, once again being put into a headlock by Reno as he ruffled the life out of my hair and was quickly punched in the arm by Axel, when Kairi smacked both of them and gave me a hug as 'an apology for their rude behavior'. But just as she was hugging me she whispered something only I could hear. "Axel's very sweet and very sensitive; if you hurt him I will murder you."

I swallowed nervously and nodded, waving goodbye as Axel and I walked out the door to his car. For the most part it was silent. Only halfway home did the silence break. "Uh, sorry about them." Axel sighed. "My family is kind of... obnoxious."

"It's alright." I said, leaning against the window. Checking my phone, I saw I had three missed calls and one text message. Raising an eyebrow I flipped open my phone to check. All four were from Cloud, the text only telling me to answer his calls. I took a deep breath and sat up straight, trying not to get anxious. My brother was never one try multiple times to contact me. If he wanted to check up he called once and if I didn't answer, he'd wait for me to call back.

Axel glanced at me. "You okay?"

"Yeah, fine." I nodded and silence once again took over.

When we arrived at my apartment I quickly ran up to my room, not even looking back to see if Axel had followed. I fumbled with my key, throwing the door open. Cloud was sitting at the small table, looking slightly startled at my sudden burst but hid it well. "Cloud, what's up?" I asked quickly.

He glanced behind me and I knew Axel was there. "Roxas, we've gotta talk."

I nodded, turning to Axel. "I need you to leave."

He glanced between us for a second and nodded slowly. "I'll see you tomorrow." and with that he was walking down the hall. I closed the door and moved closer.

"Mom can't pay rent anymore." he said.

"What? Why not? Did something happen? Is she okay?" I asked frantically, thinking the worst of the worst.

"She's fine, but Dad's getting suspicious." He said calmly, but I could tell he was uneasy. "She can't keep paying or dad will find out. My bank account leads to him so I can't help you either."

"But... I don't have the money to pay for rent. And you hardly have enough for yourself..."

"I know."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

There was a long silence before he sighed. "I don't know. You have two weeks before rent is due for the month, do you have enough money to pay just this month?"

"Hardly." I mumbled.

"I can call one of my friends, they could take care of you for a while- at least until we can find out a different way-"

"No." I said sternly. "You and mom have already done plenty, I can't go around mooching off of your friends, too."

"Roxas-"

"I'll figure something out." A moment passed of silence, almost as if we were having a silent argument.

After a while Cloud sighed and nodded, standing up. "If something goes wrong, you call me immediately." he warned before walking out and leaving me alone. I sighed, slumping into the now empty seat and buried my face in my arms. I didn't know what to do. Rent was expensive, school cost money and not to mention food. Cloud and Mom couldn't help me anymore and I sure as hell wasn't going to ask anyone else for help. I couldn't burden them with my problems. It was my fault for leaving and I had to face the consequences, but... what was I supposed to do? A crap job at Hy-vee wasn't going to be enough to pay for all this.

The thought of getting a night job flashed through my head but just as quickly I shook it away. No. I wasn't going to stoop that low. I was going to get through this, I just needed to think for a while and then I'd be able to come up with something...

Willing my legs to move, I dragged my feet on the floor and crawled into bed. Maybe it would all just be a bad dream, and I'd wake up and it would be Monday and I would hang out with Axel and I'd still be able to have a home and everything would be okay.

But I new that would never happen.

Just as I closed my eyes, I heard footsteps. Opening them quickly I looked to my door and saw it slowly creek open, a tall dark figure making it's way inside. I recognized the smirk immidiately.

"W-what... h-h-h-how did you find.. me?" I asked quietly, sitting up and pressing my back against the wall.

The man shook his head, and with each word he moved closer. "Roxas... you really don't get it, do you? Wherever you are, wherever you go, I'll _always_ be able to find you. No matter how far you run I'll be there. You can't escape me."

"S-stay away!" I yelled, searching desperately under my pillow. I knew I left it here somewhere...

He kept moving closer, closer, closer. Just as he was able to crawl onto the bed and hover over me I found what I was looking for, quickly opened it and slashed at the figure in front of me with all the might I had. The blade stopped short, his fingers curling around the sharp object. He seemed completely unfazed as blood began to drip down his arm and onto my leg.

I screamed, quickly letting go and trying to scoot further against the wall and find an escape but found none. He tossed the blade into his other hand, using the injured one to pin me down and held the knife against my cheek. "Roxas, Roxas... you know better than to try something like that." he hissed, dragging the blade across my skin.

I shut my eyes tight, crying out in pain. Wriggling under him as he continued to cut at random parts of my skin. I began to feel dizzy, the pain was now turning into numbness. He stopped, dropping the knife onto my bed and seemingly disappeared. I let my head hit my pillow, tears falling down my face as I eventually passed out.

* * *

**Soooo... I'm fairly certain of what I want to happen in this story. Usually I'm just blindly writing my chapters but I actually have a pretty good idea as to whats gonna happen! So I'm very excited to see what you guys will think. Please leave me a review! Oh and hopefully the chapters will get longer, they've been kind of short lately... hehh... so yeah REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW REVIEW!**


	7. The Truth

**Heeeyy Guuuyyyysss :D Lookie it's chapter seven! Woooo~ I'm excited. I actually know where I'm going with this story xD So I don't have much to say, so please enjoy and please please pleeeaaassee review!**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**The Truth**

I woke up in a cold sweat, my head throbbing and heart beating fast. Sitting up quickly I was reminded of the injuries on my body, but the one that hurt the most was right on the palm of my hand. I took a deep breath and stood up, my legs shaking, and moved to the bathroom.

Taking in the sight of myself all mangled I sighed and quickly looked away. Mirrors were never something I could stand to look into for long. Any form of reflection made me shiver. I took a shower before finding the first aid kit and tending to the cuts on my arms and cheek and most importantly the large gash in my hand. I pondered for a moment, trying to remember everything but it was all a blur. After securely wrapping my hand I went back to my room for a change of clothes.

After getting ready for school I went to open the door. It was locked. I raised my eyebrows, dropped my back, and quickly checked the house. Every window was locked as well, even though there was no possible way for someone to climb in through the window, anyway. "Then how..." it occurred to me that he might have gotten a spare key. I swallowed, grabbed my backpack, and ran out of the building.

Homeroom was boring, and as I was sitting in my usual seat I remembered I hadn't taken my medicine that morning, or the night before. I'd have to remember to take it when I got home or something.

"Hello, Roxas?" a girl with short black hair that I'd never seen before smiled and sat in the seat next to me where Sora usually sat. He seemed to be absent again. "I'm Xion."

"Hello." I mumbled, not exactly in the mood for conversation. I wondered how she knew my name. Maybe she was friends with Axel and them? But I never saw her at lunch... we made small talk for the rest of homeroom, mostly in a whisper. She seemed to respect that I wasn't in much of a chatty mood and ended up doing most of the talking. When the bell rang she disappeared around the corner and I didn't see her the rest of the day.

Obviously Axel picked up that something was wrong almost immediately. When I first saw him on my way to art his smile fell. "Roxy, what happened to your cheek?"

I looked to the ground. "I fell. Hit my cheek on the table." I knew he didn't believe me, but he didn't try to pester me about it. We walked to class, Demyx joining us and making things a bit more lively. As we sat around our table I tried my best to work on our newest project, but it seemed to be pretty difficult. We were carving linoleum prints, and my dominant hand was the one that was injured. I could barely hold the carving tool, let alone press hard enough on the print to actually do anything without it sending tons of painful jolts through my entire hand.

After about fifteen minutes of gently trying to carve my picture into the linoleum, I pressed too hard and quickly jerked my hand away, holding it to my chest with my eyes squeezed shut. I took a breath through clenched teeth.

"Roxas, what the hell happened?" Axel asked quietly, his eyes glued to my bandaged hand.

"I told you, I-"

"No, you didn't."

I sighed. "Okay, you caught me. But I'd rather not talk about it, especially in the middle of class."

"After school?"

"I have work... How about Friday?" This was a true statement, but it was also to give me more time to figure out a reasonable excuse.

He nodded and went back to work on his sculpture while I gave up on mine. My hand would be a bit more healed in a few days, then I could just stay after and get caught up. We continued through the day in silence, seeing each other at lunch and the few other classes we shared. I didn't talk at lunch hardly at all, and even work was a struggle. I couldn't sit still knowing that he was here, that he had somehow managed to get into my apartment despite the door being securely locked.

When Namine saw me she gasped and quickly went to touch my cheek. "Oh Roxas, what happened to you?"

"I... ran into someone yesterday." I said quietly.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not really."

She nodded, understanding. He was the only part of my past I hadn't told her about. In fact, the only people who knew were my family. We began working immediately after that, making small talk every chance we got just to lighten the mood. It had been a very quiet day, and not to mention it dragged on. But despite how much I would have loved to just go home and sleep, the second I arrived I felt anxious. There was that possibility he'd show up again.

Taking a deep breath I shrugged off my shoes and jacket and went to the bathroom to take my medicine I'd forgotten that morning. I looked into the transparent orange bottle and sighed. Empty. I'd have to stop by the pharmacy tomorrow, then. Sighing, I set it down on the counter so I wouldn't forget it in the morning.

* * *

School the next day was hardly any fun. I had only gotten about two hours of sleep, which I probably would have been better without. Waking up with a panic attack was never something I liked, and apparently I had misplaced my inhaler as well. I had wandered around wheezing and shaking until I finally found it on the kitchen counter.

When I did get to school, I was late, and Sora didn't stop bugging me during homeroom, talking about his most recent date with Riku, and something about a faire that was coming up soon. He told me he would text me the details later. I was confused when Xion wasn't there, but guessed she was probably either sick or running late.

Axel was still curious and slightly angry about just how I had gotten my wounds. Part of me wondered what he thought they were. Did he think they were self inflicted? Or that I was being bullied? Or I got in an accident? I had no idea, but what made me most confused was why he cared so much. In art I casually told the teacher that I had hurt my hand and couldn't use it, and she told me that she would give me an extra two days to finish my project. Axel sat next to me, carving away, but I noticed he would glance over at me a lot.

When I finally caught him before he was able to look away, I locked our gaze and raised an eyebrow. "What, Axel?" I asked.

"Nothing." He shrugged, looking away.

I sighed, resting my chin on my good hand. "You've been glancing at me every ten seconds. It's not nothing."

"I can't wait for Friday for you to tell me what's going on. Roxas, whatever it is, you're obviously suffering from it."

"I'm fine-"

"No, you're not." he said sternly, setting down his carving tool and turning in his seat to stare at me. Now it was my turn to look away. "You've been practically falling asleep in class since I met you, you hardly ever make eye contact, and now suddenly you're getting all these injuries. Roxas, what the hell is going on? Are you hurting yourself? What is it?"

I stayed silent for a long time, trying to figure out what to do. We didn't talk for the remainder of the class, and when the bell finally rang I grabbed Axel by his wrist and pulled him out of the classroom and down the hall, leaving Demyx very confused behind us.

"Rox-"

I cut him off quickly. "How do we sneak out of here without being caught?"

There was a short pause, and when I looked back Axel nodded in understanding. "Follow me." After heading down a deserted hallway and sneaking past the bouncer, we were outside of the school and running to Axel car. "Where to?"

"I don't care." I said, buckling my seatbelt.

Nodding once again he started the engine and we sped off town the street to wherever he was going. We ended up at the ice cream shop we had gone to before and after getting some ice cream we sat down. He stayed silent, staring at me like I was some kind of item he was judging.

I laughed nervously. "Where do I begin?"

"Why not the beginning?"

"The beginning, right..." Letting out a deep breath, I met his gaze. "My name is Roxas Strife. I have a brother named Cloud, and a mom and dad. I've lived in Nevada my entire life up until now. My dad owns a large company. My mom is a writer and she's very nice and beautiful. I've never really gotten along with my dad. When..." I gulped, looking down at my hands as I messed with my thumbs "when I was seven, my parents were having a dinner party to celebrate the company's ten year anniversary or something. I was in my room. A-alone. One of the guests, he... he came upstairs. Into my room." I noticed Axel's eyes widen slightly. "Uh... should I stop..?"

"Only if you want to." he said.

I nodded, taking a bite of my half-melted ice cream before I continued. "After the first night, he continued to show. Don't ask me how he got past my family or even inside the house, but he did. My brother was the first one to notice. It was two years later when he found out. Of course he had been suspicious from my not wanting to go swimming or always wearing a jacket or long sleeves, but he never said anything. One time... right after the man had left, Cloud came into my room. He asked me things like why I was crying and who I had been talking to... what the cuts and bruises on my arms were from... So I told him. I didn't know what else to do. He... he told my mom right away. My dad... he wasn't happy. We constantly got into fights and it was hurting everyone in the family._ I _was hurting everyone.

Things continued like that. I saw less and less of the man but he was still there. Every now and then, he would show up... and no matter what he was constantly in my dreams. I began having panic attacks, and it triggered my asthma. I... did a lot of other things, as I got older. I've hurt myself, things like that... I went to a lot of doctors, during that time... some for my physical injuries and others for my mental health. Half of the medication I'm taking now I don't even know what it does. Eventually, I got fed up. I knew that it was my fault my parents were constantly getting into fights, and that Cloud had decided to move out. So I left. It took weeks to convince my mom, but in time she caved in. With her and Cloud's help, I left while dad was at work and moved here. I use the last name Hikari and I work at Hy-Ve. My mom was paying for rent for the remainder of high school. But... she can't anymore. The reason Cloud was there Sunday was to tell me that Dad is starting to notice the money disappearing. We kept it a secret from him because he'd drag me back home the second he found out where I was, so she can't pay anymore. I don't have enough to pay myself, only working part-time. On top of that, he... he's been showing up again. He got into my apartment after Cloud had left. That's why... that's why I look like this." I dropped my head to hide as my vision blurred with tears. All of the sudden everything was hitting me at once, and I couldn't take it. I was scared. No, I was absolutely downright _terrified_. "I-I don't know what to do."

Axel suddenly stood up, grabbed my hand, and pulled me out the door. I followed blindly, sniffling and rubbing my eyes. We ended up in his car and sped down the street at maximum speed, arriving at his house only minutes later. Again I followed him inside, dropping my backpack next to the door. Part of me worried that he thought I was disgusting, that he was going to turn around and tell me to go home, that he was angry I had lied to him about basically my entire life. For a second I pictured my dad standing there, and how he had done the exact same thing. My thoughts almost became true when he spun around, hate burning in his eyes. But instead of lashing out, he pulled me into a tight hug.

My face squished into his shirt, his hair tickling my cheek. And I broke down. Digging my nails into his back, I cried harder than I had in a long, long time, and the harder I cried the tighter he hugged me.

"Roxas, I had no idea." he said, breaking the silence and loosening his grip. "I thought you just-.. but if I had known-"

I shook my head, laughing in spite of myself. "H-how could you have?"

He smiled sadly, using his thumb to wipe off some of the leftover tears from my cheek. "Still. I didn't know it was this... bad."

The door opened behind me, making my body tense up. "Yo, Axel! Skipping school again?" his brother grinned widely, the door smacking the wall it was connected to. "Oh, am I interrupting something?"

"Kind of, yeah." Axel growled, letting his arms drop as he stepped away. "What are you doing home?"

"Well don't mind me. And shouldn't I be the one questioning you two? You're lucky it wasn't mom or she would've killed your asses for being here. Not that she won't once the school calls, but ya know. I happen to be home for lunch today." Reno said matter-of-factly.

"I'll give you twenty bucks if you get rid of all evidence that we skipped today." Axel bargained. I raised an eyebrow, the two of us now standing side by side.

"Gotta do better than that, bro."

"Thirty, plus laundry for a week."

"Yeah, whatever." the older of the two sighed, waving his hand. "Now scram, I call the living room."

Axel grabbed my hand and pulled me up the stairs to his room. He handed me a box of tissues to blow my nose and turned on the TV. Instead of playing games like we did the last time, we laid on our stomachs on his bed, flipping through random channels. There was no awkwardness in our silence. In fact, I was glad he didn't try to hold a conversation or ask me questions, especially if they were going to be about my past. My eyes were starting to close on their own when he finally did say something.

"Roxas, move in with me."

I shot up, my eyes widening as I stared at him. At first I thought it had been some kind of joke, but when he looked back I could tell he was dead serious. "W-what? No, I can't, I mean your family, and..."

"Tell them. They'll understand. We have room, and even if we didn't I'd still set up a mattress in my room or something. You said yourself that you'll have no way to pay rent, and it's almost october. The end of the month is coming up fast. If you stay, here, you won't have to worry about it. And... and we can keep you away from that guy."

I looked down at my hands. "Axel, I... I don't know. You don't even know if they'll say yes, and even if they do... it's not about having room for me, but it's _your_ family. I can't just throw myself into all of their lives..."

"Roxas, please." he said, clasping his hands together. "I'm _begging_ you. Just... think about it."

I nodded, laying my head down on my arms. It wasn't necessarily the fact that I'd be living in the same house as Axel and his family that made me hesitant. It was that if I did, I'd be shoving myself onto them, and to me at least, it would feel like I was using Axel. Not to mention I'd be getting in the way of everyone once again. Sighing, I closed my eyes and tried not to think about anything. I was tired and Axel's bed was the most comfortable thing I had ever been on. It wasn't long before I fell into a much needed sleep.

My eyes opened slowly to the sound of giggling and whispering. Scrunching my eyebrows, I tilted my head back over the edge of the bed. Two redheads were grinning back at me

"Oh, looks like he's awake." Reno smirked.

"Wha...?" I mumbled, trying to wake up completely.

"Morning lovebirds." Kairi giggled, stuffing her phone back into her pocket.

I raised an eyebrow. "What are you..." it was then, as I was trying to stretch, that I realized I wasn't the only one who had fallen asleep. Axel was laying next to me, one hand tucked under his pillow and the other wrapped loosely around myself. My face instantly flushed and I rolled over in an attempt to remove myself from his grasp. Sadly, it didn't really work out as planned. Instead of simply sliding out from under his arm, the second I got about halfway away his grip suddenly tightened, trapping me in a one-armed hug, nuzzling his head into my neck with a soft groan.

Of course, Reno and Kairi thought it was hilarious. I unintentionally punched Axel in the stomach as I tried to get out of his grasp. He coughed, and although I didn't get out of his chokehold at least he was awake so he could let go on his own. "What the hell was that for?" he yelled, glaring at me.

"I didn't mean to now jesus, Axel, let go of me!" I said, pushing on his chest to try and get away.

"Wha-... oh, uh sorry." he mumbled, quickly letting go and sliding a good two feet away.

"Thanks for making my night guys, I got a ton of great pictures." Kairi grinned, winking at me. I could just feel the color draining from my face as she flipped open her phone and began doing who knows what. "I'll send em to you now, Axel."

"You- fucking delete those right now!" he screamed, jumping off of the bed and practically tackling his sister. However, just as he was about to grab her phone, she threw it at Reno. "Run for your life!" she half screamed half laughed, and Reno was out the door seconds later.

Axel cursed multiple times as he tried to stand up, which looked difficult even to me since Kairi was doing everything in her power to keep him down. He shook her off after a couple failed tries and ran after his older brother. While I was watching the whole thing, I couldn't help but sit there, shocked. Axel's face... had been bright red since he woke up.

"I only took one photo." Kairi said, snapping me out of my thoughts, and smiled at me from her seat on the floor. She held up a blue cell phone and dangled it from a small chain "And it's on Reno's phone. You won't tell him, will you?"

I shook my head, staying silent. I was too deep in thought, and still trying to wake up completely. Not to mention I was embarrassed to have fallen asleep in Axel's arms, but not _that_ embarrassed... Axel, however... I don't think I had ever seen anyone's face as red as his. Except maybe my own.

Wait.

Did that mean Axel...?

There was a loud crash from somewhere downstairs, followed by a string of shouts that all seemed to be curses.

"Oh man, you are _so _dead!" Reno yelled, his voice carrying all the way up the stairs. We shared a curious glance before hurrying downstairs to see what happened. When we got down there Axel was being pulled to his feet. A vase was smashed on the ground, the water and flowers covering the floor. Next to a fallen over corner table, Kairi's phone was on the ground, the entire front screen smashed.

"My phone!" Kairi screamed, going to retrieve the object. I grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"There's glass everywhere, you'll get cut." I said, and she nodded. I had the bad feeling that her silence was a sign that she was effectively pissed off.

"Dude, what happened?" a fifth voice asked, and we all turned to see a tall man with black hair and a cross scar on his cheek.

"Don't look at me!" Reno said, holding up his hands.

"What the hell? It's you're fault!" Axel yelled.

"You're the one who ran into the table!" he argued.

"Well maybe you should have just given me the fucking phone!"

"Guys, guys!" the man called out over both of them. "I don't care who's fault it was, Aerith is gonna kill you both if you don't get this picked up before she gets back from the store. Reno, you pick up the glass. Axel, you'll mop up once he's done. In the mean time go get a new vase and some flowers."

The two nodded silently when Kairi huffed. "Dad, look at my phone!"

"I'm sure Axel and Reno can new, better, _expensive_ one this weekend." he said, eyeing the two boys. They groaned, but Reno left probably to get cleaning supplies.

"Looks like we're going to the store, Roxy." Axel sighed.

"Hey hey, wait a sec." the man said, smiling at me. "You aren't gonna introduce me to your friend?"

"Zack, this is Roxas. Roxas, my step-dad Zack." Axel said, motioning back and forth between the two of us.

"Hello." I said, holding out my hand nervously.

"Jeez Ax, haven't we gotten past the whole step-dad thing? Well it's nice to meet you Roxas. Aerith says you already came by for dinner once, sorry I wasn't there to meet you, but duty calls!" he grinned, shaking my hand roughly.

I nodded in understanding. After our greeting, Axel grabbed my arm lightly and was dragging me out the door to his car. Once we were on the road, he sighed. "I'm_ really_ sorry about that."

"Hey, what are siblings for, right?" I shrugged.

"Yeah, but still. Um... so do you want to go home now or...? Because I've gotta clean up that fucking mess..." he groaned, glancing over at me.

"I don't mind."

He raised an eyebrow. "You okay?"

"Just thinking." I said quietly, turning to stare out the window. It was mostly true. There were a lot of questions running around in my brain, but I tried to ignore them for now. I'd have time to think once I got home. "Hey, do you know anyone named Xion?"

"Xion? Can't say I have."

I frowned. "Hmm... alright then."

"Why?"

"I met her in homeroom. She already knew my name, so I figured she knew your or something. Maybe she's friends with Sora."

He nodded. "Maybe." We were silent for a while, the music playing slightly in the background. Axel was the first to speak up. "So... have you thought about my offer?"

"Axel... I don't know." I sighed. "We don't even know if they'll let me, and I'd just get in the way... I don't want to burden anyone else."

"It's better than living on the streets, which I am _definitely_ not letting happen, by the way. You won't be a burden, Roxas. If anything Aerith will be ecstatic to have another helping hand around the house." he said. "You're coming to the store with me. I am not picking out flowers by myself."

"Where to?" I asked, avoiding the first part.

"Seeing as you're kind of skipping work right now, we'll go to Walmart." he grinned at me.

"Oh shit, I never called in." I groaned. "... Does Walmart even sell flowers?"

He opened his mouth to speak, closed it, and sighed. "... Uh, I guess we'll find out."

I shook my head, smiling. Of course.

* * *

**Soooooooo... what did you think? Review pretty please. I'm already a couple pages into chapter 8 so hopefully that'll be up soon. Please be patient c:**

**In the mean time... REVIEW.**


	8. Friendly Advice

**ADSFASDFSFD OMG. Look at this. I cannot believe this. I finished this chapter in like a day cuz I already had part of it written, and then I spent all of last night making notes in my notebook for what I wanted to happen. I NEED TO WRITE NOTES MORE OFTEN. DUDE. So I'm kind of on a roll with this story, expect more chapters (hopefully) very soon. You know I'm serious when I'm actually planning the future of a story. Usually it's just kind of 'sit at the computer and I'll go with the flow'.**

**OKAY NOW READ! :D**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Friendly Advice**

It was Wednesday. Exactly in the middle of the week, and although I had gotten a good amount of sleep thanks to my four hour nap at Axel's house, I couldn't concentrate at all. The entire first half of the day I had spent trying to figure out if I really should accept Axel's offer – that is if his parents even allowed it – and stay with him.

But that wasn't the only thing on my mind. Sure it was about 80% of my thoughts at the moment but there was something else. I couldn't help but notice how embarrassed Axel was about the whole thing with falling asleep and the picture. I mean, it wasn't really that big a deal, was it? Not even I was blushing as hard as Axel, and that's saying something. I'd have to ask Namine about it later...

Sora was back in homeroom again, and when I asked him where he was he said he had gotten the stomach flu, and then gave me a thorough explanation of his date with Riku over the weekend before he had gotten sick. Apparently, he blames the Chinese food for getting him sick and has refused to eat it ever again.

Axel didn't leave me alone that day. All throughout Art he was giving me curious looks, asking if I was okay and what was on my mind. All I could say was that I was just thinking. When French rolled around we sat next to each other. Axel tapped on our table, drawing my attention to his notebook.

_You sure you're alright?_

I sighed, took out my pen, and after glancing to make sure the teacher wasn't looking I wrote my reply. _**I told you I'm fine, just thinking.**_

_Well then what are you thinking about?_

I decided it wouldn't hurt to tell him the truth. _**Your offer. **_Well... half the truth. _**Have you talked to your parents yet?**_

He shook his head. _I'm waiting until you give me the okay._

_**Okay...**_

_Ya sure that's all that's bothering you?_

I nodded, glancing up at him to try and prove that there wasn't anything else on my mind. He just shrugged and went back to paying attention to the teacher. A couple classes later and it was time for lunch. I sat in between Axel and Marluxia – it seemed to be an unspoken seating arrangement for us – and Demyx was next to Axel.

The questioning glances continued throughout lunch as I hardly touched my food, too busy going through evidence and pros and cons in my head to care about the fry dangling partly in my hand and partly in my mouth. When I finally did notice Axel raising an eyebrow at me I hurried to finish about half of my lunch before floating back into my own little world.

When the half bell rang and Axel got up to get dessert, I felt a hand on my shoulder. Looking up, Marluxia smiled at me. "Roxas, why don't we take a walk? I want to talk to you. Demyx, tell Axel Roxas wasn't feeling well and I took him to the nurse to lie down." Demyx nodded, shooting us both a confused stare, but didn't question it.

I followed the pink haired man obediently out into the hall and around the corner, where we slowed down a bit. "I can tell by the look on your face that something's on your mind. Am I right about what it is?"

"Um... I don't know? What do you think it is?" I asked.

"You're not sure if you like Axel or not."

I nodded hesitantly. "Or if he even likes me at all."

"I think it's time you learned something about Axel." he said, placing his hands behind his back. "I've known him since we were in middle school. I'm assuming you know Zack is not his real dad?" I nodded. "It happened in eight grade. Their real father, Genesis... lets just say he changed. Thank god Aerith left before things got too bad, but they got bad enough. After a while, she began seeing her old boyfriend again, Zack. And of course the two instantly clicked, and about tow years later they got married. Now Axel had always been a pretty quiet kid to begin with – don't give me that look, he is – but during that time he didn't talk to anyone. He didn't eat, he hardly even slept. Even now sometimes he has trouble. We were all there for him, but the only one he ever really relied on, and still does, is Demyx. They were friends since birth, and thus Demyx knew the most about him. Even now Demyx is really the only one who sees him outside of school – except for you, of course."

"So... why are you..-"

"I'm telling you this because I don't think you realize how important you are to him, Roxas." Marluxia said sternly. Only now did he stop completely to stare down at me, directly in the eye. "Axel has been hurt by many people and I am not going to let him get hurt again by an ignorant fool who can't tell the difference between friends and lovers. If you even unintentionally lead him on to think that he means more to you than he really does, so help me, I will hunt you down and murder you."

My teeth clenched as I stepped away from him and did my best not to flinch. The only thing I could bring myself to do was nod.

"I understand."

* * *

"Roxas? Hello?" Namine called, waving a hand in my face. I looked over at her, my chin resting on my hands as my dinner was left untouched. She frowned. "Is something wrong?"

I shrugged. "Sorry, I've just got a lot on my mind."

"Yeah, I can tell." she pointed out. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I guess..."

She smiled, folding her hands neatly on the table. "Okay, we've got twenty minutes until break ends. I'm all ears."

I took about ten minutes to explain to her my situation with my apartment and affording school and a place to live and food. I told her about how Axel found out everything, and that when I told him I couldn't pay for the apartment anymore that he wanted to ask his parents if I could stay with them. When I finally finished, I was out of breath and Namine looked both shocked and worried. I gave her a concerned look. "I don't really know what to do."

"There don't really seem to be many options, Roxas." she sighed. "Either you go back home or you go with Axel's plan. That is, of course, if his parents say yes..."

I dropped my head onto the table. "Do I really say yes..?"

"If I were in your situation, I think that's what I would do."

I nodded, taking a deep breath. "There's something else I wanted to ask you about."

"Okay, what is it?" She asked.

"Okay, so... Ah, how do I say this... How do you know if somebody likes you?"

"What?"

I ran my fingers through my hair nervously. "Um... if someone likes you, how do you find out?"

"That's an interesting question." she said, sounding amused. "Well I guess you could tell by the way they act around you. If it's any different from when they're with some other people, or if they blush around you, or look at you a lot... It's kind of hard to describe. Why are you asking?"

I shook my head. "Um... well... see when I was at Axel's house, I kind of fell asleep. And when I woke up, he had fallen asleep too. And we were kind of -ugh this sounds so weird- snuggling? And well Kairi and Reno were making a big deal about it and Axel got really flustered. I mean, he was_ bright red_. He broke Kairi's phone trying to get Reno to delete the picture."

"They took a picture?"

"That's not important! I just... it kind of seemed like he might, you know... and then Marluxia told me I was important to him and stuff..."

Namine smiled. "I think it's best if you figure it out for yourself, instead of me just telling you."

"Is that a yes? Or are you just saying that so I think it's a yes but it's really a no and I end up making a fool of myself?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." she grinned. "However, I do want to ask you this... do _you_ like him? More than a friend, that is."

"I... I mean, I don't know... I've never really thought about it." I admitted, shrinking into my seat a bit. Did I like Axel? I mean, sure I knew him more than I knew anyone else in his group of friends, and it's true that I get nervous around him sometimes, but... did I like him like that?

"You guys are too cute..." Namine sighed happily.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

She winked, placing a finger to her lips as if she were shushing me. "It's a secret."

I groaned. "You are no help at all."

"Breaks over, anyway." She said, picking up her empty plate. "Oh, and you owe me for not eating any of the food that I paid for, and for bailing you out when you were skipping yesterday."

"Fair enough..." I sighed, dumping it in the trash. I finished working around eight, and finally remembered to go to the pharmacy to pick up my new prescription. Stuffing it in my pocket, I got in the car and headed home.

When I got inside I went straight for the bathroom, glass of water and medicine in hand. It had been days since I had any last, I definitely needed to get back in the habit of taking it twice a day. I took a swig of the water, about to pop the pill into my mouth when I heard the door close. The water was instantly spewed all over the mirror in front of me.

He leaned against the wall, arms crossed, and shook his head. "Roxas, Roxas, Roxas... You don't really need those, do you?"

I stayed silent, watching his every move. The man pushed off the wall and walked over, placing his hand over mine and taking the small white pill and tossing it in the sink along with setting my glass of water on the counter, all while I tried to calm my shaking. He grabbed my chin, jerking my head painfully and forcing me to look at him. "There... all better."

"W-what... do you want?" I asked quietly, doing my best to sound strong, but it obviously didn't faze him.

"Don't try to act tough. I'm here... because I want to be. And there is_ nothing_. You. Can. Do. About it." he whispered, every word being followed by a step until I was pushed up against the wall. He let go of my chin, only to trail his fingers down my throat. "It's been such a long time..." he whispered, his warm breath making me flinch as it ghosted over my neck.

I shivered, closing my eyes tightly. Why was this happening? I came here to get away, and yet he still followed me. There was just no escaping, was there? No matter what I did he always showed up. I tried to tell myself that he would go away. If I kept my eyes closed long enough he'd get bored and leave, then when I opened my eyes he'd be gone. It had worked a few times in the past, I decided to give it a shot.

"Look at me, Roxas." he hissed.

I didn't listen. I squeezed my eyes tight and wished with all my heart that he would leave me alone. Breaking was becoming difficult. His hand was around my neck, squeezing tightly. I gasped, my eyes flying open as I clawed at the hand around my neck. He grinned while I squirmed and yelped, trying to get as much air in my lungs as possible. I could feel the pressure in my head making my dizzy.

"You should listen when I tell you to do something, Roxas." he warned, his other hand wandered down down _down_. My eyes widened. I knew there was nothing to do. My throat burned and the black spots in my vision were signs that I was going to pass out any second now now. He suddenly stopped, grinning as the darkness began to take over completely and my eyes rolled back into my head. I fell to the floor, my knees hitting the tile painfully.

* * *

I sighed, staring up at the school in front of me. I left too early; hardly anyone was there. Yawning, I began to walk inside when I felt something pat my back. "Roxas! It's good to see you again."

"Xion? Where have you been?" I asked, turning to see her smiling at me.

She blushed, looking away. "Oh, um... I went on a little vacation. Did I worry you?"

"I just didn't know where you went." I shrugged. "Hey, do you know Sora?"

"Who?"

I raised an eyebrow. I was sure she would know him since she hadn't known Axel. "Uh, never mind."

"School doesn't start for a while. Do you want to walk with me?" she asked, motioning towards the sidewalk.

"Uh, sure." I nodded, following next to her.

"How have you been, Roxas?" she asked.

"I've been... good, I guess."

Xion gave me a curious glance. "Something on your mind?"

"Kind of." I admitted. Hey, why not? She seemed trustworthy enough, and there was something about her... I couldn't put my finger on it. "I think that I like my friend, but... I don't know. And I've got a lot of stuff going on right now."

"Well, if my opinion matters, I think that you should wait until whatever you're dealing with blows over before you start thinking about a relationship, but I'm sure that if you just follow what your heart tells you, things will turn out alright. You just need to sit back and slow down for a bit. I can see that you're overwhelmed, so maybe you should take a break. Stay home for a day and just sleep, or go out on the town for a bit... that's my advice." she said, folding her hands behind her back. "But you can tell that you like someone when your heart beats fast when you're around them, and you always think about them, and you would do anything and everything in your power to see them be happy. I think that's what love is."

I nodded slowly. "Yeah... I guess you're right."

"I'm sure whoever it is that you might like is a very lucky person."

I laughed quietly. "In all honesty, I'm kind of jealous of him. He has a family. Sure, they aren't perfect, and they're kind of obnoxious, but you can tell just by looking at them that they love each other."

"I'm sure that eventually you'll be able to experience something like it." she said with a reassuring pat on my arm. "But I think that you should cherish what you have right now. There are lots of people who don't have friends to help them through things like what you're going through."

"Yeah..."

"You should probably get to class, homeroom starts in about ten minutes." she said.

"Aren't you coming?" I asked.

"No, I have stuff to do, but I'll see you around." she giggled, winking at me before running off down the street. I was going to call out to her, but she disappeared into a crowd of people and I didn't see her after that. I sighed and turned back to walk as slowly as I could back to school.

Sora was more hyper than usual when I got to my seat.

"Oh my god! Roxas!" he yelled, grabbing both of my hands as he leaned across the space between us. "I totally forgot to tell you yesterday but there's this faire – remember the one I told you about like a week ago? - and so it's next weekend and couples get in with a discount. So i'm going with Riku and I reeeaaallllyyy want you to come too so do you think you could find someone to bring? You don't have a girlfriend do you? Or you could just bring a friend and say they're your date. Ooohh or I could hook you up with my friend! Or well I guess you don't have to bring a date if you don't want to. That reminds me, some of my other friends are coming too so if you want to tell your friends they can come too! It'll be like a huge party!"

I nodded slowly, trying to mull over everything that he was telling me in my head because he was talking so fast. Once he had finished he was gasping for air; I don't think he took hardly any breaths when he was talking. "Um, no, yeah I think I can go. I'll tell my friends too, and don't worry about the, uh,_ date_ thing..."

"Really? Aaawww thank you! This is gonna be so much fun." he gushed, giving me a quick hug. "We need to talk more, you know? I only see you in homeroom!"

"I did give you my number." I reminded him.

Sora grinned. "Right! So I'll text you later, m'kay?"

"Yeah, alright." I nodded, and we continued to talk (well, it was mostly Sora doing the talking) until the bell rang and we parted ways for class.

The day went by quickly, compared to the past few days. I heeded Xion's advice and tried my best not to think about my feelings or what was going on and just tried to enjoy the day. My hand was feeling better and I was able to work on my project again, even though it did hurt a little every now and then. I spent my art class chatting with Demyx and Axel. At lunch, I got my usual chicken and fries and sat next to Axel, an empty seat next to me.

"Uh... Where's Marluxia?" I asked.

"He went home sick." Larxene said, not once taking her eyes off of her cell phone. "The stomach flu's going around and I bet he caught it."

"Sora had that a couple days ago." I said, remembering why he had been absent. "Oh, speaking of Sora, he said that there's this faire. He told me to tell you guys, and that we can all kind of mesh..."

"Oh yeah! I heard about that!" Demyx said excitedly. "Couples get in half-price, right?"

"Yeah, I think so."

"Oooh sounds cool, am I right Axel?" he grinned evily, nudging the redhead in his arm. I raised an eyebrow.

"Haha, funny." Axel grinned back, swatting his arm away. "So when is this little faire?"

I thought for a moment. "Next weekend."

"Larx, you tell Marly. Looks like we've got plans next weekend." he said, taking a large bite of his sandwich. "How do you know Sora anyway?"

"We have homeroom together. He's kind of... really obnoxious and wouldn't stop talking since my first day." I admitted, kind of sheepishly. It was a bit embarrassing that I was friends with him, seeing as he was kind of childish for someone who was supposed to be a junior. "How do you know him?"

"I know him through Riku, who I know through Demyx. They're in band together." Axel explained.

I yawned, rubbing at my neck as Demyx and Axel got into a conversation about how Axel used to be in band too and always got into trouble for skipping. Sighing, I glanced at my hand to see a bit of the coverup coming off. The bruise hadn't been that bad, but it would definitely be noticeable if I hadn't hidden it with makeup, especially to a certain nosy redhead.

"You okay there, Rox?" he asked, shooting me a curious glance as I hurried to shove my hand under the table.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just tired." I shrugged, ignoring the slight pain in my neck. "Are we still hanging out tomorrow? I mean, I know we kind of changed the date to yesterday, but are we still-"

"Yeah, sure. What do you wanna do?" he asked, almost a little too quickly. Or maybe I was over-analyzing it. Ever since I talked to Namine I had been examining Axel's every move to try and detect something that was off.

And I told Xion I would lay off worrying about this stuff, jeez...

I searched my brain for something to do, when I remembered Xion saying that I should go out on the town. "Hey, we should go downtown. I haven't been there yet."

"You're kidding, right?" Axel asked, letting out an exaggerated gasp. "You live in Omaha and you haven't been downtown yet?"

"What?" I growled. "I don't really ever have the time."

"Next you're going to tell me you haven't been to the zoo."

I stayed silent, giving him a deadpan look.

"Oh god, Roxas, you are a sad excuse for a resident of this city." he sighed, patting me on the shoulder. After hanging his head in false sorrow for a second, he grinned at me. "You, my friend, have a long weekend ahead of you."

* * *

**Sorry, I guess it was kind of short. I'm trying to make them longer but I guess that didn't really happen ;A; anywaayy please review and hopefully chapter 9 will be up in no time! We're getting close to double-digits, people! This is exciting!**


	9. Mental Holiday

**Dear lordy-be I'm on a roll with this story. Aasdfasdf I'm so freaking excited, you guys have no idea. I've got the whole thing planned out in my head, and when I'm not able to be on the computer to write it, I'm usually planning it out in my notebook for when I can. I don't think I've ever been this addicted to one of my own stories before. I think this is going to be the first one that I finish (knock on wood cuz I cannot jinx this!). So please enjoy this fun little chapter~**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Mental Holiday**

School went by dreadfully slow that friday, probably because I was excited to go downtown for the first time. In all honesty I was a bit ashamed of myself for not getting to go down there sooner, or even go to the great Henry Doorly Zoo that was oh-so popular. However, I do think that Axel was blowing it a bit out of proportion. Sure I hadn't been to either of the two places that this city prides itself on, but hey, Omaha was huge and I was just a single teenager, not to mention I didn't exactly have the time to go down there anyway.

So when school finally came to and end I found myself in Axel's car – he had picked me up from my apartment again so we didn't have to bother with my car – speeding off downtown on a chilly Friday near the end of September with the B-52's blasting Rock Lobster out of the speakers.

All in all, Axel was in an extremely good mood. Part of me had been worried since Tuesday night that he would act differently around me after I told him the truth, but he proved that it was going to change nothing. If anything it brought us closer, and I didn't feel so constricted with trying to keep secrets all the time. Or maybe Axel's happy mood was just rubbing off on me.

We arrived downtown and once we found a parking spot, I was staring in awe at the tall buildings and brick roads. Axel was behind me, wrapping a scarf around my neck. "It's cold, so wear this."

"Yeah, thanks." I nodded, stuffing my hands into my coat pocket. It was awfully cold for September, but then again, I had learned that Nebraska didn't have very stable weather.

"We're at the Old Market. I figured this is the best place to start. The pedestrian bridge is a bit farther down, we'll drive there next." Axel said as he put on a pair of red gloves that stood out from his black coat.

"So where to?" I asked.

"Just start walking and once you find a place that you wanna go into we'll check it out." he instructed, following next to me as we walked under the large canopy type... thing that hung over the sidewalk. We walked for hours, making small talk until one of us found a store we thought was interesting and stopped to take a look. Axel insisted on paying for most of everything, resulting in us getting into an argument at the register almost every time. It seemed to go back and forth on who would win, and lucky for the cashiers, it didn't take that long for us to decide, though I'm pretty sure we pissed more than a few people off.

The stores were amazing. Ranging from art to candy to antiques; this place had everything. I watched in awe as a carriage passed by, the horses hooves clacking on the brick road and a circular cage that reminded me of Cinderella contained a happy couple. When they saw me staring the woman waved, smiling happily.

"You wanna go on that?" Axel grinned, nudging me in the arm.

"What? Come on, that's probably one of the most cliché things ever." I said, rolling my eyes, but I didn't even try to hide the small smile that was creeping onto my face.

About two hours into our walking, I had about four small bags, and Axel had five, all containing little trinkets like and one with a leather jacket Axel said that he fell in love with. However, it was getting colder as the sun started to drop close to the horizon, and my feet were hurting from so much walking.

"Lets grab a bite to eat." Axel suggested, pointing towards a restaurant called Spaghetti Works just a few stores down. I nodded, hurrying over to the building. "Then after we eat we'll go down to the pedestrian bridge. That thing is awesome."

"Sounds good." I nodded again, pushing the door open and holding it for him. "Lady's first."  
"How thoughtful." he grinned, stepping inside and heading over to the waiter to find us a seat. We were showed to a table near the window, handed our menu's and asked if we wanted to order our drinks. "I'll get a coke."

"Same." I said, folding open the menu to find something I liked. There were all kinds of pastas and pizzas and other different Italian foods. We decided on getting the garlic cheese bread for an appetizer, talking about random memories or upcoming events while we decided what we wanted to eat.

"So Demyx and I tried to start a band freshman year." Axel said, chuckling at the memory. I raised an eyebrow, curious to hear the story. "Yeah, only we don't really have the same taste in music, and he wanted to put his sitar into it somehow... not to mention it was only us two, we didn't even have a drummer. He could have, but he insisted on the sitar. So we'd get into an argument all the time and eventually decided that we should give up on the whole idea."  
"How long did it last?" I asked.

"About two weeks."

I shook my head and sighed.

"It looks like you're feeling better." Axel commented, leaning back in his chair with a small smile. "For a while I thought you'd never actually be this..." he scrunched up his face, trying to think of the right word, but after a moment he just waved his hand in the air ."...whatever."

"Calm?"

"We'll go with that."

I shrugged. "I've never really just went out on the town. I mean, I've gone out a lot before but it was only ever to one place, and I usually had a reason to be there. It's nice to just walk around and stuff. Plus, I got a little friendly advice from some friends."

This time Axel raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Yup."

"Are you going to enlighten me?"

"Nah, I think I'll pass."

"Now that's not fair." he pouted.

I grinned, resting my chin in my hand. "I guess life just ins't fair."

"A very true statement." he agreed, glancing down at the menu. "Know what you're getting?"

"Fettuccine Alfredo."

Axel grunted. "How unoriginal."

"Then what are yo getting?"

"The cheese tortellini." he grinned, folding his hands over the table.

I hummed, closing my menu as a waitress came by to take our orders. We sat quietly for a while after that, enjoying the silence. I stared out the window and watched as people walked by, most of them couples who were huddling close together or holding hands and laughing. Other people were in groups or just by themselves. One person in particular caught my eye, wandering around with her hands in her pockets. I scrunched my eyebrows, confused. Was that Xion? When she caught my eye, I could tell something was wrong.

"Seriously though, did something happen? You seem different." Axel asked, snapping me out of my daydreaming.

"Am I?" I shrugged, glancing back out the window, but Xion was gone. "I dunno, just trying not to worry so much, I guess. About time I gave myself a break, right?"

"Is that some of the advice your friend gave you?" he asked, amused.

I grinned. "Hmm... maybe."

When the food arrived, small talk continued. Axel asked about what my old school had been like, my friends, any old significant other in my life. I explained that there had been the few I dated for maybe a couple of weeks, but never longer than that, and told him about my friends Hayner, Pence, and Olette. They may have been one of the only things I really missed. I in turn asked Axel about any childhood friends he didn't see anymore, and as we ate I got to learn even more about him.

We left the restaurant at seven and jumped into Axel's car to drive down to the bridge so we wouldn't have to walk all the way back for his car. At first I was slightly nervous; the bridge was awfully high above the water, after all, and I wasn't exactly a fan of heights. But as we began to walk onto it I found that it wasn't really that bad. Sure if you stood still you could feel it swaying a bit, but I tried to ignore that part. The sunset looked absolutely amazing, and the water was beautiful as the sky reflected onto it.

The two of us stopped right in the middle and leaned against the railing, remaining quiet as the sun slowly set behind the horizon. Letting out a deep breath, I kept my eyes straight ahead as I spoke. "I thought about your offer. I... think we should go ask your parents if it's okay."

Axel stared at me, his mouth hanging slightly open, as if he were trying to see if I was joking. "Seriously?"

I nodded. "Yeah. I thought about it a lot, and... well I don't really have anywhere else to go, right? I'll find a way to repay you guys eventually, but I do think that it's my best bet so far."

He looked back out at the river and nodded. "I guess we'll talk about it when we get back, then."

"Alright."

There was a short silent before Axel suddenly pushed off of the railing and grabbed me by my hand. "Come on, watch this." We ran past the other people walking along the bridge until we reached the end of the river, and a white line was drawn across the bridge. On one side it said Nebraska and on the other it said Iowa. "Look, I'm in two states at once." he said smugly, one foot on either side of the line and his hands on his hips.

I couldn't help but laugh. "You're such a dork." Despite my accusation, I stood next to him, mimicking his pose.

His grin widened. "Yeah, but you still love me." I was caught off guard by that, but he didn't give me enough time to react and let out a happy sigh. "I decided that if I ever get married to a man, and Nebraska isn't legalized by then, I'm going to get married right on this line."

"That's... interesting." I said, still trying to wrap my head around his last statement. That was obviously just a friendly joke, right? I mean, I'm pretty sure I had heard him or Demyx say that before, but... I shook my head and tried to remind myself that I wouldn't think about my feelings until after things settled down.

"Welp, this was fun but we should probably get back; we've got a lot to talk about when we get home." Axel said, clapping his hands and heading back the opposite way we were headed. I followed slowly, and when he turned back an evil grin spread across his face. "I'll race ya back!" and with that he was gone.

"Axel, wait-" I cursed under my breath when he didn't hear me and took off after him. By the time I caught up and we had stopped at Axel's car I was wheezing and coughing, one hand on the hood and the other clutching at my throat.

"Jesus, Rox, why didn't you tell me you had asthma?" Axel groaned, holding onto my arm as I tried to breathe so I wouldn't just topple over. I glanced up at him and could see the worry and frustration in his eyes. I waved one hand, fumbling around in my many pockets until I found my inhaler.

"I _tried_ to tell you," I gasped, finally breathing a bit better, but my throat still hurt. "but you ran off-" I coughed again. "-before I could."

"Sorry about that." he sighed, scratching the back of his head. "It was pretty far to run for anybody."

I shook my head, climbing into the passenger seat. "Well it doesn't help that I'm not athletic either."

Axel shrugged, turning the keys in the ignition. "I guess."

"Now lets get this over with." I said, bracing myself for how asking his parents would go.

* * *

When we arrived at Axel's house, his mom and step-dad were washing dishes together. Axel informed them we were here with a cough. "Hey, uh, we wanna talk to you two."

"Oh sure honey, what is it?" Aerith asked, wiping her hand son her apron. Zack turned as well, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe we should sit down?" I offered quietly, and with a nod we filed into the living room. I was surprisingly confident as we all took our seats; Aerith and Zack in the loveseat and Axel and I sharing the larger couch.

"Do you wanna start?" Axel asked me quietly.

I nodded, and began speaking. "You see- ahem... You see, recently some stuff has been going on. You already know," I motioned to Aerith and Axel. "but... I've been living alone since I moved here. Certain... things happened and my dad and I kind of had a fall out. It got pretty bad. Most of the time I locked myself in my room, because if I simply in a room with him for longer than a couple minutes, we'd get into a fight. I couldn't stay home anymore, and to get away from two people in my life and with the help of my mother and Cloud, I moved here, changed my last name, and enrolled in school." I said, shifting my glances between Axel's parents, him, and off at nothing. I explained everything to them, eventually. From the man that had somehow gotten into my room that one night to how he continued to torment me, and how it ruined my relationship with my dad. I was only interrupted once at first, when Zack started to rant about how my father didn't do the right thing and should have tried to protect me, but Axel glared at him and he let me continue.

I told them about how my brother had come by about a week ago to tell me that my neither him nor my mother could help me anymore, and that I was basically on my own since I refused to let him take me in; after all, he was struggling enough on his own.

Axel took up the ending, giving me a much needed break from my speech. "So Roxy's got nowhere to go, and since that guy is after him – and even if he wasn't – do you think... we could let him stay with us? At least until we get out of school?"  
"I have a part-time job, and I'll help out as much as I can around the house." I added, almost begging them to say yes.

Aerith shot Zack a sad glance, and after what felt like forever they finally nodded slowly. "I think it would be okay." his mom said. "We have an extra room, after all, and it's not like we don't have the money to spare..."

"Plus we could use the extra help around the house." Zack added, grinning. "Of course, if you've got a car we aren't gonna help you with gas money."  
"I wouldn't even try and ask." I said, trying to to smile too big, but I was excited! They said yes! "So, um... when should I..?"

"Why not at the end of this month? So in about two weeks. That way you can pay the last of your rent and then move in at the start of the month, and it'll also give us some time to prepare for you coming over." Aerith replied with a smile.

"Alright." I nodded, practically jumping in my seat. I never thought I would actually be this excited for them to say yes. Then again, I didn't expect them to even agree in the first place.

"We're gonna head upstairs." Axel said, laughing at my jumpy-ness, but I could tell he was excited too.

"Let us know before tomorrow morning if he's sleeping over, will you?" Zack called as we ran up the stairs.

"Will do!" Axel yelled back, closing the door to his room behind us. I let out a very unmanly squeak when I felt his arms wrap around my stomach and lifted me completely off the ground. I found myself being spun around in circles as I clutched at his arms in fear of being flung off somewhere and hitting either the wall or the floor; neither of which sounded appealing. Eventually he set me down, letting out a sigh and ruffling my hair before falling backwards onto his bed, arms spread out. "I can't believe they actually agreed. I mean, I know they're cool and all but seriously- come two weeks you're going to be _living_ here!"

I smiled, sitting down next to him. "I kinda want to see how Reno and Kairi are going to react."

"I know, right? Knowing them they'll freak out." he grinned.

I raised an eyebrow. "Like you when you started flinging me around the room?"

"Except twice as bad since there are two of them." he said, not denying the fact at all.

I let out an amused hum and laid down next to him, kicking my legs over the side. We sat in a comfortable silence for a couple minutes before Axel – after kicking his legs up into the air – sat up and turned the TV on. "Movie time?"

"What are we gonna watch?" I asked, turning over so I was facing the TV.

"Hmm... good question." he frowned. "Ah, do you wanna sleep over or not? Cuz I've gotta let Zack know if you're staying."

"If we watch a movie I'll probably fall asleep." I pointed out.

"Alright, I'll be right back. Pick out a movie or something while I'm gone!" he called, running out of the room. I shook my head; I didn't think it was possible for Axel to be more hyper than his usual self, but apparently I was wrong. With a smile, I hopped off the bed and went to inspect his DVD collection.

Axel came back and flopped down on his bed. "Find something yet?"

"You like The Princess Bride?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What? It's a good movie."

"Sure it is." I said, placing it in the PS3 anyway. About halfway through the movie, I was hooked. What? It really was a good movie! I was honestly surprised; I thought it was just going to be one of those cheesy girl movies but it was actually a decent movie, good for girls or guys.

Axel was grinning at me by the end. I had stayed awake just to see how the whole movie would turn out, and I was very glad I did. "So, is it worthy?"

"I think it passed the good movie test." I nodded, getting up to find another to put in. I wasn't sure how late we'd stay up, but I did know I needed some background noise. Putting in another random movie, I grabbed the bags of what I bought at the Old Market and dumped them onto the bed to examine all of them. Axel did the same, making his own little pile. Seeing as he was more open with his spending, his pile was bigger.

Most of the things I had gotten were small; a couple keychains, old types of candy, a couple CD's and a supposedly lucky three-legged pig. Axel, on the other hand, had a couple of band t-shirts, his leather jacket, two keychains, a pair of oxblood Doc Martins, and a matching three-legged pig. Not to mention a whole lot of candy. Can someone say sweet-tooth?

Popping one of the hard candies in his mouth, Axel picked up his little brown pig and started playing with the single leg on the back. "Where's it's tail?"

"It doesn't have one." I said, unwrapping one of my own candies. Apparently Axel decided not to tell me that this type of candy had a sour liquid in the middle, and as soon as the harder outside broke my eyes widened and I almost spit it out, but quickly ate it and stared at him. "Holy shit!"

Axel burst out laughing. "Oh my god, your face! That was amazing!"

I smacked him on the arm. "How was I supposed to know that it was sour on the inside!"

"Maybe because it says so on the wrapper?"

I pursed my lips, taking a different candy and, making sure it wasn't sour, popped it in my mouth.

"Okay so what are we watching?" Axel asked, moving onto his third piece.

"Uh, I couldn't really find anything so Emperors New Groove."

He raised an eyebrow. "Seriously? And you were trying to diss the Princess Bride?"

"Whatever, I'm going to fall asleep anyway." I sighed, stuffing my face in my pillow.

"Do you want a blanket?"

"There are plenty right here." I pat the bed to bring attention to the fact that it was covered by blankets.

"You aren't messing up my bed just to lay facing the movie." he said.

"Then I'll to this." I grabbed the top of the blanket and pulled it over, holding on as I rolled over twice across the bed and successfully wrapped myself up in half of the blanket.

"And you say I'm the dork?"

"That's because you are." I mumbled, closing my eyes and snuggling into the blanket.

It was quiet for a couple seconds, and after a while I peaked my head out to see what Axel was doing. He had grabbed the two corners of the comforter on his half of the bed and flipped them up. I squeaked as I was rolled out of my cocoon and hit the headboard. "And you said not to mess up the sheets."

"You already killed my bed when you wrapped yourself up, so might as well use them properly. Besides, then I'd be stuck sleeping in the cold." he said, spreading the blanket out over both of us. "Now pass me a pillow."

I stuck my tongue out and threw a pillow at his face. "Yes your majesty."

"Thank you princess." he bowed.

"That's prince to you." I rolled over and hit him with my pillow, but he grabbed it and rolled over quickly, hiding it from me.

"This is blasphemy!" he cried. "You can't hit your queen! You should be beheaded!"

I rolled my eyes and grabbed a different pillow and turned away. "Oh shut up."

"Sleep well princess. You better hope my guards don't come behead you in the morning." he yawned.

"You love me too much to do that." I mumbled, already half asleep. Axel didn't say anything back, but I was too exhausted to take a note of it. A couple of minutes later I was falling asleep to the sound of Axel softly snoring next to me.

* * *

**Soooo yup~ a nice little break from the sadness that's been going on. They needed a fun trip downtown, dontcha think? So I'll have chapter 10 up soon! Can you believe it? 10 chapters! Double digits! A new record for me! I'm so excited! Anyways, please review, it makes me so freaking happy when you do.**


	10. A Day At the Faire

**Augh sorry this took a while! Not to mention it's pretty short, but I think it makes up for that... hopefully. Eh hehe. So school has started and all so the plus side of that is I have my own laptop! Downside is that I have homework and school and all that jazz so I probably wont be able to work on my stories that much. But have no fear! I got basically half of the chapter done in a single day, so yeah. Plus I'm very motivated!**

**Okay I'll stop blabbering now, please enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**A Day at the Faire**

I was rudely awoken Saturday morning at ten thirty by Axel banging on the door, yelling at me to wake up. Pulling on a pair of jeans and scratching my head, I threw the door open and yelled at him. "I'm trying to sleep, the hell do you want!"

Demyx was standing next to him and the two immediately shut up, their eyes growing wide. "Holy..." Demyx breathed.

"What?" I snapped, glaring at him.

"Um... Rox, I think you forgot your shirt." Axel said, pointing at my bare chest.

I glanced down, eyes widening slightly as I noticed that every single bruise and scar from my hips up were exposed. I slammed the door and ran to my room, pulled on a long-sleeve shirt and opened it again, slowly. "What do you guys want?"

"Well we came to get you 'cause Sora sent out a mass text saying to meet him at Village Inn for breakfast before the faire, but now I'm wondering where the hell you got all... those." Demyx said.

"It's not important." I shrugged, turning to Axel. "Let me get ready, you guys can wait inside."

He nodded, grabbing the still stunned Demyx by the wrist and dragging him inside. I left them to find a seat and went to brush my teeth and fix my extremely messy hair. No doubt Axel would probably explain to Demyx that I lived alone, but I was too tired and crabby to really give a fuck at the moment. Once I was all ready I changed into something that matched a little better and would be warmer for the cooling weather and stuffed my keys in my pocket. "Alright, lets go."

"Cool!" Demyx cheered, jumping out of his seat on the couch and running out the door. Axel sighed and followed after, leaving me the last out to lock the door. We rode in Demyx's car, Axel in the passenger seat and me in the back with Zexion, who had waited in the car earlier.

Apparently the plan was that we were all going to go out for breakfast at Village Inn and then after we'd head over to the faire, which opened at noon.

Sora and his group had arrived before us and were waiting at a table, and the rest of our group would be showing up soon. When everyone had finally arrived, we pushed three tables together and went through the chaotic trouble of figuring out what each and every one of us would order. There were arguments over money issues, dieting, and of course the 'you can't get that, i'm getting that!' that usually went on between Demyx and Sora.

The waiters cringed every time they came by our table, thanks to everyone being very obnoxious. At one point a small food fight erupted thanks to Axel flinging some of his food at Marluxia, but it was ended by one of the waiters saying that we'd have to leave if we kept it up. After that we were more calm, talking among each other and occasionally bursting out in laughter.

Demyx, although he would glance over at me every now and then with a either a curious or debating look on his face, never said anything about earlier. No questions were asked and no comments were made about the many scars or one bedroom apartment. For that, I was grateful.

We left close to one, everyone piling into their designated cars and driving off towards the faire. It wasn't an overly large, extremely crowded faire like I had seen, but it wasn't small either. They had rides like a ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, a few small rollercoasters, and all of the mandatory carnival rides. Not to mention haunted houses and a whole lot of games.

When we got in line everyone began arranging themselves into their pairs. Seeing as we all were pretty big cheapskates, we decided everyone would go in with their 'date' and only pay half price. Demyx was with Zexion, Marluxia with Larxene, Sora with Riku, etc. It was a pretty good idea, in my opinion.

And before you ask, yeah, my 'date' was Axel.

Everyone seemed to split up once we got inside; surprisingly in the pairs they had gotten in with, but some joined in groups of two or three. Demyx and Zexion stayed with us for most of the time, and every now and then we'd meet up with others. We ran around for hours, but the first thing that came out of Axel's mouth was "Hey Roxy, lets go on the ferris wheel!"

My heart dropped into my stomach, but I gave him a very deadpan look. "No way in hell."

"Aw, come on! It'll be fun!" he begged.

"Axel, no."

"Why not?"

"… Just 'cause."

He raised an eyebrow when I looked away. "Are you scared of heights?"

"Not _heights_!" I groaned, dropping my head in shame. "I just really hate ferris wheels, okay? We'll go on anything just_ not_ the ferris wheel."

"Did they do something to you or something? Why discriminate against ferris wheels?" he chuckled, clearly amused at my fear.

"I was stuck on one when my friend for about two hours at the very top because something went wrong, and the whole time he was rocking back and forth. I almost fell out and by the time we got off I was crying." I said, the color draining from my face at the memory.

"Aw, don't worry I won't rock it! Come on, you might like it this time."

"…We'll see." I sighed, grabbing his hand and dragging him over to a different ride. This one was one of rides were you stood against the wall and it spun, the only thing holding you down being the force of the spinning. We were halfway through the line when I noticed I was still holding onto his hand. I let it go, coughing nervously.

"Aww and I was just starting to enjoy that." Axel sighed dramatically.

I rolled my eyes, trying to hide the blush on my cheeks. "Whatever."

"So let me get this straight…" Axel said, holding his chin in thought. "You'll go on a ride where there is absolutely nothing holding you down except sheer force, where you spin around and around in the air, but you won't go on a simple ferris wheel where you sit in a little compartment and move slowly around in a circle? Yeah, that makes perfect sense to me, Roxy."

"I told you, bad experience with ferris wheels!" I groaned. "I can go on anything except those."

"We have to go on it at least once; it's only natural."  
"Says who?"

"Says everybody! It's mandatory that you go on a ferris wheel at least once every time you go to a carnival or faire, everybody knows this." He said, wagging a finger in my face.

I swatted it away, frowning. "That's a stupid rule, and I'm pretty freaking sure not everybody goes on a ferris wheel, Axel."

"Oh?" he raised an eyebrow. "And how sure are you, exactly?"  
"Really sure?"

"Sure enough to bet on it?"

"How do you make a bet on that?"

Axel grinned. "I bet you that every single person that went to the faire in our group goes on the ferris wheel at least once by the end of the night."

"And what happens if one of us looses?"

"That… will be decided at the end." He winked.

I rolled my eyes. "Whatever."

"Deal?"

"Sure."

"Shake on it."

I Sighed and took his hand, shaking it before we were allowed to climb onto the ride. There was something I learned that day; Axel is very giggly and very loud when he goes on any ride. Whether or not it's actually exciting or scary, he will yell and laugh and scream until the thing is over.

Overall the faire was extremely fun. We ran around from ride to ride, chatting as we waited and occasionally talking with another member of our group if we ran into them. Aside from going on every ride in the entire faire, we also stopped at a lot of the booths with games that were usually rigged so you couldn't win.

Axel, once again, proved me wrong.

By six the sun was going down and we were carrying stuffed animals, food, glow sticks, and all kinds of little prizes that mostly Axel (I surprised myself by winning a couple of the games myself) had won. Of course, we still had not been on the ferris wheel yet. However something had changed about the faire. Along with the people walking around there were people in costumes, very scary costumes, running around and freaking people out. At first I was worried when I kept hearing random screams, but Axel only grinned. I only noticed the creepy clowns, werewolves, and blood-covered men with chainsaws when one came right at me, revving his saw and growling in my face.

I screamed like a little girl, jumped about ten feet in the air, and clung for dear life onto Axel's head. Of course he thought it was hilarious and proceeded to give the man a high-five, but I had almost had a heart attack.

"Roxas, he was just joking, you can get off now." Axel laughed, prying at my hands. I wouldn't have it though; I curled my legs around his stomach tighter and refused to let go. So, after letting out a long sigh, he shifted so he was comfortable and carried me on his back around the faire until we found a haunted house.

"Axel, no."

"You already declined the ferris wheel, you can't say no to this." He said.

"I'm not going in there."

"So long as you're on my back you are."

I jumped off immediately, hiding behind Zexion – Demyx and him had just joined us – and glaring at him.

"Come on, Rox they aren't that scary." He said.

"He's right!" Demyx piped up. "At first I thought they'd be scary, but then after Zexion and I went through the last one I realized they weren't as bad as I thought they'd be!"

"Besides, if they know you're such a scaredy-cat they'll just try and scare you more." Axel grinned.

I shook my head and Zexion sighed, turning to squeeze my hand reassuringly. "We'll be going in with you, Roxas. You'll be alright."

"You guys suck." I groaned, slumping over in defeat behind Axel with Demyx and Zexion behind me. As it turns out, we went to the scariest haunted house in the whole park. At the end Demyx and I sat on a bench that was close by, holding onto each other as we shook in fear while Axel and Zexion sat across from us looking completely unfazed. I had sunk to a new kind of low that night.

"Okay, so that one probably wasn't the best to start off." Axel admitted. "But man that was amazing! Hell even I got freaked out a bit in there!"

"That was horrible." I groaned. "You have the worst sense of humor ever if you think that was fun."

"Oh come on, it's fun to get scared! That's the whole reason they're around in the first place."

"Whatever, I'm never going in another haunted house again."

"Amen to that!" Demyx cried, slumping his head on my shoulder. It seemed like the only person taking it worse than me was him.

Axel rolled his eyes and stood up. "Alright, enough sulking; let's get going."

"Why are you so pissy all of the sudden?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I'm not pissy." He mumbled. "I'm just bored of sitting around when we could be going on another ride or playing a game or something!"

"I'm a bit hungry, we haven't eaten anything yet and it's getting late." Zexion said, standing up and placing himself next to Demyx. "Plus I doubt they have anyone scaring people around the food courts."

"Right, it's already after six." I said, checking the time on my phone.

"Alright, we'll get some food then." Axel nodded, and with that we were off looking for some food. It took us over an hour to find a collection of food stands, thanks to Axel getting lost, Demyx getting distracted, and me freaking out every time I saw one of the people in their freaky costumes and then insisted on taking a different route.

However, as soon as we did find the food, we ordered a lot. I swear, Axel could clean out a whole restaurant if he wanted to. Altogether we ordered three funnel cakes, four caramel apples, a tub of chicken, a whole lot of fries, a giant bag of caramel corn, fudge, and other kinds of Halloween and Autumn themed treats.

Despite my complaints, Axel managed to drag me through a few other haunted houses. Thankfully none of them were as bad as the first, but I still jumped and squealed every now and then. Axel, unlike my girly reactions, tended to curse when he got startled and then seconds later he'd start cracking up. That tended to make things a little less scary for me.

We were outside, standing near the ferris wheel once again, both of us decorated in all kinds of glow sticks and eating the last of the caramel corn.

"Rox, will you please go on the ferris wheel?" Axel begged "Just once?"

"I thought we talked about this." I groaned.

"Yeah but come one! It's just one time, that's all I ask."

"Isn't the faire closing soon? It's almost midnight."

"We leave at twelve thirty, but come one! We're gonna miss it!"

I raised an eyebrow. "Miss what?"

"The best part of the faire, that's what!" he exclaimed.

Demyx came up and grinned. "Aw, Roxy you've gotta go on the ferris wheel now!"

"What is so important about going on the ferris wheel right now?" I asked, getting slightly irritated.

Demyx snickered. "You have to get on to figure it out!"

"No, tell me first!"

"Roxas, it's best if you just go with them on this one." Zexion said, popping some cotton candy in his mouth.

"Why?" Demyx and Axel shared a grin before Axel came over, grabbed me by my legs and threw me over his shoulder. "Wha- put me down!" I screeched, hitting his back with as much strength as I could muster.

"You brought this on yourself!" Axel said, running off towards what I could only guess was the ferris wheel. About three minutes later I was sitting in one of those godforsaken carts, the safety bar secured not-so-safely over my lap and Axel sitting next to me with a very smug look on his face.

I slumped into my seat, hiding my growing terror behind a pout. Demyx and Zexion were behind us, and he waved when I glanced back. "Don't worry Roxy, you're gonna love it! I promise!"

I groaned when the ride began moving, holding onto the bar so tightly my knuckles were turning white. The cart rocked slightly at first, which frankly made my heart jump into my throat. There better be something really freaking awesome or I was going to be one unhappy Roxas.

Once everyone had been loaded onto the ride and all the carts were full, it started for real. "Relax, you'll be fine." Axel grinned, nudging me in the arm. I nodded, taking a deep breath as we rounded up to the top. We went around once more slowly, Axel tapping his finger on the bar. I shot him a curious glance but he just shook his head and told me I'd see in a second.

When we got to the very top, I gasped.

Fireworks. That was what they were all so excited about. The most breathtaking, beautiful view of fireworks I had ever seen in my entire life – not that I saw fireworks more than once a year, but the idea was still there.

I stole a glance at Axel, who was watching intently with a smile, not a smirk. The lights reflected off of his face and eyes and he just looked so peaceful. It made me smile. Turning back to the fireworks, we sat in silence as the ferris wheel continued to turn slowly. It rounds once more before it stops, letting people off as the fireworks went on.

We met up with Sora and the rest of the gang once we got off the ride and found a good spot to stand to watch the last of the fireworks with everyone. As they're going on, Axel turns to the group and grins. "Hey, everybody raise your hand if you went on the ferris wheel today!"

Everyone looked pretty confused, but raised their hands anyway. I Frowned.

"Okay, hands down. Now… anyone who didn't go on it raise your hand." He said. No one raised their hand. "Awesome, thanks. Looks like I win, Roxy."

I groaned. "Fine, you win. Happy?"

"Ah ah ah," he wagged a finger, the group going back to watch as the fireworks got bigger. By the looks of it, the finale was about to start soon. "You lost, so you have to accept punishment."

"And what exactly is that going to be?" I asked, placing my hands on my hips. A very manly action, I know.

Axel thought for a moment, looked up towards the sky, and grinned. "Hmm… how about this." He leaned in quicker than I had time to think. Before I knew it he had my face in his hands and his mouth on my lips.

I stood there in shock for a good two seconds while my mind wrapped around what was happening and when I finally did, he was pulling away. My brain panicked and without thinking I quickly pulled him back, crashing our lips back together with a bit too much force.

I felt Axel grin as he kissed back harder, my arms wrapping around his neck. As it was all happening, I couldn't help but laugh inwardly at how insanely cliché the whole situation was. I mean, you always hear in those sappy love novels that there were fireworks on the true-love's first kiss – how many people actually got to say there were_ real_ fireworks?

Someone whistled across from us, a few others gasped and – from what I could hear – Namine and Demyx cheered. My face went red and even though I didn't really want it to end, I pulled away slowly and looked directly at the ground.

"Aw, don't be embarrassed." Axel grinned, nudging my arm. I couldn't help grinning back when I looked up, because even though he had said that his face was probably redder than mine.

"I hate to break up the love-fest," Demyx said, coming up behind us and wrapping am arm around both of our necks, "but the faire is closing so let's get going! Party at my house, 'kay?"

I nodded, walking along side Axel as we all filed out to the parking lot. As we walked, I felt Axel catch my hand is his. "I don't suppose that's part of my punishment as well?" I grinned.

"Think of it as interest." He said, winking.

When we got to the car I climbed into the back with Demyx and Zexion, yawning as soon as we were all settled and driving. I hadn't realized I was so tired until then. Yawning once again, I rested my head against the window and let the sound of everyone else talking and the shaking of the car sooth me to sleep. I smiled as I closed my eyes. All in all, it had been a very good day.

* * *

**Oh god I have the bad feeling you guys are going to hate me in the next chapter or two... Dear lord. Have mercy on my soul. ****Oh god, DON'T HATE ME x_x**

**Well, I hope you enjoyed this, it was fun to write c: Next chapter should be up soon! In the mean time, please review! I like your feedback! :D**


	11. Nightmares Come to Life

**Dun dun duunnn chapter 11 is here! Prepare yourselves, kiddies, for this chapter... is hardly anything compared to the next. Oh god I'm scared xD **

**A special shout-out to MidnightSchemer13 for leaving the longest and most awesome review I have ever received in all my life :O It still makes me squeal when I see it!**

**Well, I don't want to keep you guys waiting, so I now present to you chapter 11, and I hope it keeps you on your toes!**

**Enjoy! (or not ._.")**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**Nightmares Come to Life**

The party that Demyx had spoken of ended up being the whole gang hanging out in his living room with blankets and sleeping bags watching movies and eating all the junk food in his house until we all passed out – and from all the energy we spent at the faire, it didn't take very long to accomplish that. I, however, couldn't sleep. Personally I blamed the fact that I fell asleep in the car. So, giving up on trying to go back to sleep, I stared at the ceiling, watching the patterns that appeared and moved around from the darkness. Or maybe I was just going crazy. Glancing around, it seemed that everyone was fast asleep. I let out a sigh and went back to my ceiling watching.

I only fell asleep when the sun had started to come out, and waited a bit longer just to watch it rise. That was my favorite part of the day; when it was five or so in the morning and the sun was just peaking out, giving off a very soft light. It was so peaceful. I could sit there all day and just watch and be completely at ease. Of course, as soon as the sun had risen enough I nearly fell over on the couch and fell asleep.

Axel woke me up at noon, saying that everyone else was already awake and breakfast was on the stove. Apparently Demyx could cook, and pretty well at that. We had eggs and bacon with our choice of orange juice or apple juice to drink. I would have picked the orange juice if I hadn't noticed before that there was a_ lot_ of pulp in it, and I honestly hated any form of pulp in my juice. So I chose the safe bet and went with apple juice. Besides, it was just as good.

We all left after that; Demyx and Axel becoming personal chauffeurs for the day. He drove me home last, the car ride quiet for the most part, both of us deep in thought. Or at least, I guessed Axel was. Besides, there was a lot to think about.

"You might want to start packing soon." Axel said, breaking the heavy silence. "I mean, you're moving in next Friday – this Friday – the upcoming Friday." He was nervous; it was obvious by how he was talking. If I hadn't been nervous as well I might have found his actions funny.

Instead, I nodded slowly. "I don't have that much stuff, so it wont take very long for me to pack. The only think to worry about is the heavy furniture… I want to donate it, but I'll need some help getting it out."

"I can help with that. Demyx could to, if you want."

"… What did you tell him, anyway?" I asked. The question had been brewing in my mind for a while, and having him brought up reminded me to ask.

"Not much." He said, sending a sideways glance towards me. "I told him that you've had a rough time and for certain reasons you're living on your own, that's it. I figured you'd want to be the one to tell him when and if you ever want to."

I nodded. "Fair enough."

"You okay? You're looking a bit gloomy."

"Just thinking." I shrugged, looking out the window. There was someone waving and yelling on the sidewalk a ways down. Something that looked like the carriage we had seen downtown passed in front of her. I squinted my eyes. It kind of looked like…

"Rox?"

I blinked, glancing out the window again to see no carriage or girl there before I changed my gaze over to Axel. "Yeah?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You _sure_ you're okay?"

"I think so."

Axel sighed, turning the corner into the parking lot of my apartment complex. I didn't move when the car stopped. "Hey- if it's about the faire or something, you can forget it-"

"No!" I coughed, glanced to the side and shook my head. "No, i-it's not like _that_, just… thinking, you know? I mean, come next weekend and I won't be living here anymore."

"Is that a bad thing to you?"

I shook my head slowly. "No… it's just a thought I need to get used to. I've been here for more than half a year, and now I'm going to be living in your house. It's going to be something I'm totally not used to."

"Yeah, my family's pretty obnoxious." Axel sighed. "But you'll be fine, I promise. Anything else bugging you?"

I shrugged, rubbing my head. Great, all of the thinking must have given me a headache. Not to mention I was hallucinating. That was reassuring. "Ah, yeah I think I'm good…"

"You don't sound so sure of that."

"It's nothing, I just have a headache." I mumbled.

Axel nodded slowly before unlocking the car. "Can I ask one more thing?"

"Sure."

"Do you…" he cleared his throat nervously. "Do you want to go out with me? Like, you know, be a couple. Boyfriend and boyfriend."

I held my breath for a good two seconds. He almost started to speak, probably to take back what he had just said, but I beat him to it. "I- Okay, I'm going off of the advice I was given. Right now… I can't. At least not until after things clear up and settle down. After then, I would be more than happy if we… became a couple." My face started to turn red. This was so embarrassing… "But yeah, at the moment I just really don't feel like it's a good idea to add 'boyfriend' to the list of things on my plate. I need to get settled and used to living with you and your family, and I need to sort things out with that man… and once that all clears up, then my answer will be yes." And then it was back to holding my breath, waiting nervously to see his reaction.

It was quiet for a long time before Axel finally spoke. "That's understandable." He nodded slowly. "So… we'll get you settled and stuff, then we'll see?"

"Then we'll see." I nodded, smiling a bit.

"So it's not a definite no?"

"It's more of like a yes that is postponed until later."

"Then I didn't totally freak you out with the kiss?"

"I…" clearing my throat I glanced at the dashboard and back at him. "I liked it, yeah."

His grin widened across his face and I couldn't help but laugh. "Alright, that's all I needed. Now, you need to get upstairs and go to bed because you look like you're about to pass out. You should probably take some Tylenol or something too if you've got a headache."

"I should probably start taking the rest of my medicine too…" I mumbled to myself, but unfortunately, Axel heard.

The grin was replaced with a very disapproving frown. "What?"

"Uhh… nothing?" I squeaked, gripping the handle in case I needed to make a run for it.

"Roxas." Axel warned. "Do you have medication you aren't taking?"

"…Only or like, a week…" I grumbled, looking away.

"Roxas, you can't do that; especially if it's prescription. That's probably what's giving you a headache."

"I'm fine, they didn't even tell me what the heck half of them do, anyway. It can't be that bad."

"Get up there and start taking your medicine." He growled.

"I can't!" I yelled. Shit, I shouldn't have done that… I tried to change my words, but it was too late. "I… don't want to."

"Why did you say you can't?"

"I mean I didn't want to."

"No, you said you couldn't."

"Just because, okay?" I said, shrinking back into the leather seat.

Axel raised an eyebrow. "Because why?"

"Because…"

"Yes?"

"He won't… let me…" I made my voice so low even I could barely hear it.

"What?" he asked quietly. Apparently he hadn't heard it either.

"I said he won't let me!" I screamed, dropping my head into my hands. "He won't… let me… I tried, okay? But he showed up… he kept showing up. He dumped them all down the drain last time… he choked me… I don't even know how the hell he's getting inside! The only spare key I have is in my drawer, I lock the door and all the windows are on the third floor… I don't even have a balcony for him to climb onto…" My throat burned, but I wasn't crying. I was stronger than that; it would take a lot more to make me spill my tears. Even so, the lump in my throat kept growing.

"Roxas… you should call the police."

"I can't! He'd never get caught, he runs off too quickly… never leaves a trace of being there."

"What's his name? You can look him up, find out where he is."

"He never told me his name…" Roxas mumbled in defeat. "It's been years and I still don't even know what his name is…"

I felt his hand on my shoulder; felt him squeeze it tightly as I remained hunched over. "Just one more week and you'll be out of there. Until then I need you to stay strong, keep calm and Roxas, please take your medicine, okay? I don't want you being sick or something from not taking it."

I nodded slowly. "Okay… I'll try."

"Thanks."

"Mhm…"

"Get some rest." He said, ruffling my hair a bit before gently nudging me to open the door. I did as he instructed and climbed out, waving goodbye and thanking him again for the ride before I trudged up to my apartment. Despite telling him I would try, I didn't. I walked into the bathroom, held the bottle of pills in my hand and stared at them for a long time before I sighed and put them back in their respected place.

I couldn't do it. If I so much as tried he would show up and I couldn't handle if he did. So instead I climbed into bed and stared at the wall, watching and listening as my mind played tricks on me in the darkness. Maybe it was the medicine that helped me sleep, and that was why I couldn't. Though it had hardly helped me out before, but my lack of sleep was getting worse once again.

A noise in the kitchen made me sit upright in my bed. I glanced at the clock – four thirty-two AM. There was another noise, like footsteps, and I found myself jumping out of bed before I silently tiptoed into the hallway.

There were two people; both arguing with each other in a very low whisper. My eyes widened when I saw who it was. "X-xion?" she was… she was with him!

"Roxas! You have to get out of here!" she cried, and by the way she stood in between him and that man, it looked like she was protecting him.

"No, Roxas, why don't we sit and have a little chat." He smirked, placing a hand on Xion's shoulder.

She quickly shoved it off, growling at him. "You stay away from him! Leave Roxas alone!"

"Now why would I do that…" the man said, suddenly right in front of Roxas and breathing down his neck. "When it's so much fun to see the look of terror on his face?"

"You're sick! He doesn't even know!" She yelled.

"Know what?" I asked hesitantly, struggling against him.

"I wish I could tell you, Roxas…" Xion said sadly, reaching out to him. "But I just hope you'll understand when you finally figure it out."

"Figure what out? You're so confusing!" I yelled. "You're never in class, you show up at the most random of times, and now you're in my house! Xion, who the hell are you!"

"Roxas, please don't be upset! I know it's hard to understand right now, but you'll find out soon, I promise! No matter how much I don't want you to, you'll find out soon…" she cried, pulling me away from the man. "Please leave Roxas alone… If you leave him alone, then maybe… maybe I can stay…"

"Ha! As if I'd give up just so you can have some make believe friendship." He scoffed. "If and when Roxas finds out, both of us will be gone. But until then… I am going to make the most of it." The man grinned, tearing Xion away and yanking me down the hall.

"X-Xion! Help!" I yelled, tugging at my arm to try and get him to let go, but it was impossible.

"I'm sorry Roxas!" she called back. "I'll try to help you soon, just please, wake up!"

"I'm… sleeping...?" I asked quietly.

The man glared and roughly pushed me against the wall, one hand pinning me down as the other roamed where it pleased. "Does this_ feel_ like a dream to you, Roxas?"

I shut my eyes tight, trying to think of anything else. His nails were digging into my arm, close to drawing blood – if they hadn't already. _'Wake up, wake up! If this is a dream, please, for the love of god WAKE UP!'_

I fell to the floor, a horrible sinking feeling falling over me before I opened my eyes, gasping and sweating. I looked around. I was… in the hall. "A-A… dream…? Or…" I sat up slowly, using the wall for support and holding my throbbing head with the other as I made my way into my room. The clock read seven in the morning. Letting out a shaky sigh, I moved into the bathroom to quickly take a shower and brush my teeth; I only had ten minutes to get ready before I needed to leave for school.

When Axel saw me that morning, he frowned. "Roxas, you look horrible."

"Thanks…" I grumbled, dropping my head onto the cool table.

"Do you have a fever or something?" he placed his hand on my forehead and frowned again. "Doesn't feel like it…"

"I couldn't sleep." I said. "And I'm still not sure if that was a nightmare or…"

"What happened?" he asked.

"I don't even know… Xion was there… and so was he. I woke up in the hallway right after it ended, and now my back and neck hurt really bad." I said, stretching my arms and legs out.

"Jeez…" Axel sighed, taking a bite of his Poptart. "You might want to go lay down in the nurses office for a while. I mean, no offense, but you look like shit."

"That's real nice, Axel." I rolled my eyes, sitting up. "I'm fine, I'm open a lot today anyway, so I can just nap during then or something."

"If you say so..."

* * *

The rest of the week, to put it bluntly, sucked horribly. Work dragged on, school dumped as much homework as humanly possible the entire week, and Namine… well, she wouldn't leave me alone. She was bouncing off the walls about the whole scene at the faire, and then when I finally spilled to her that he asked me out she nearly exploded. Of course, though she was obviously a little upset that I had said I couldn't, she understood why and said she was thankful that Axel understood as well, and that I had explained to him why I needed to wait.

My head felt like it was being split open from morning till night, and Axel was constantly shooting me worried looks when he was near me. During lunch, the entire table had told me that I should probably go to the nurse because I looked so horrible.

My mind – seeing as I had barely had four hours of sleep in total over the span of Sunday through Thursday – had been playing tricks on me. The words on the board or in books swirled around, and I always seemed to catch glimpses of random things in the street or hall that were there one second and gone the next.

However, as the week passed by painfully slowly, my spirits raised a bit when Friday rolled around. Not only did Friday mean that the weekend had finally arrived, but it meant that come nightfall, I'd be living in a completely different house.

Axel and Demyx came over after school to help me get all of the bulky furniture out and donated. Thanks to Reno, we were able to borrow his truck to transport everything there. I had to laugh when I saw the two in worn down clothes and driving a big clunky truck; they looked like engineer men.

"Okay, where's the stuff? Lets get this done and then go out for some ice cream!" Demyx cheered, clearly pumped up.

"I've only got a few big things, so we should get done quickly." I said, sporting an old over-sized t-shirt and a ratty pair of jeans. "But I also need to load up my boxes and get them over to your house." I pointed at Axel, who nodded quickly.

"Right, we'll be doing that after, because the Goodwill closes at six." He said.

"Okay, so we'll just go through each room; kitchen first. Demyx, you get the chairs. Axel, help me with the table." I instructed, feeling a bit too powerful with full command of what they did. It was cool being able to boss them around.

The two saluted and we all ran into the apartment, Demyx practically running down the stairs as Axel backed out slowly, making sure not to slip. I didn't trust myself enough to go down the stairs backwards.

Once the kitchen was done, we moved to the living room, which proved to be more difficult; mainly because the couch barely fit out the door.

"How-" Axel huffed, pushing on the edge. "-the hell-" push "-did you get this in here-" shove "in the first place!"

"Don't ask me!" I gasped, trying to help him push it out as Demyx stood on the other end outside, pulling. "Cloud was the one who got it up here." After a good ten minutes, we managed to shove it through and carry it down the stairs before gently lowering it into the back of the truck. A small break was in order after that, and I ran back up the stairs (much to my distaste) to get everyone a bottle of water.

After the living room came my bedroom, the last room we needed to do. We started with the dresser, all of the clothes packed into boxes and set aside. Demyx and Axel carried it out while I worked on getting the bed taken apart.

When they came back, Axel switched places with me and I helped Demyx carry the mattress out. Sadly, we couldn't donate that and had to stop by somewhere else to dump it in the trash. By the time Demyx and I had loaded that into the truck, Axel had completely dismantled the bed and we all worked to carry the different parts outside. Lastly was the bed frame, which Axel and I tackled while Demyx carried the bottom half.

"Man the fort while we're gone." Axel grinned, climbing into the passenger side of the truck. "We'll be back in like, twenty minutes."

"I expect ice cream when we get back!" Demyx yelled, pointing an accusing finger at me as he started the car. I grinned and shook my head, waving as the drove off.

As soon as they were out of sight, I trudged back up the stairs for the hundredth time that day and stood in the center of the living room, hands on my hips. It was weird, seeing the place so empty. In the short time I had lived there, it had always had the worn out furniture and side table, radio sitting right in the middle and a lamp on the opposite side. Now all of that was gone, being driven down to the Goodwill for someone else to have.

I sighed, glanced around, and made my way into the bathroom. Opening the bag that held all of the regular toiletries, I pulled out the orange bottle of pills and stared at it, turning it over in my hands. On the side were instructions on how many to take and when – one pill every twelve hours. On the other were side effects – upset stomach, drowsiness, depression, hallucinations, headache.

Opening the container, I shook out a single white pill and examined it further. Finding the glass, I filled it a third of the way and popped the pill into my mouth before taking a swig of the lukewarm water.

"Roxas, Roxas, Roxas…" my eyes widened and I turned to the now occupied doorway. "You just can't stay away, can you?"

I stayed silent, watching as the man moved around me slowly, and in one swift movement jerked me to my feet by my wrist. I cried out in pain, gripping my arm.

"I thought I told not to do that… and what do you do? You do it anyway." He glared at me, snatching the bottle from my hand. "Fine, you want to take it? Have it! Have all of it." He sneered, grabbing my cheeks and forcing my mouth open. I tried to pull away as the bottle was dumped into my mouth and he held it shut, blocking any way for me to get air unless I swallowed.

My eyes widened and my vision blurred as the numerous amount of pills lodged in my throat; I couldn't swallow them, not that many. My body betrayed me as the movement of my sobbing made them move farther down my throat until most of them had been swallowed, only two left in my mouth. There had to have been at least twenty before.

The man smirked, pushing me away as I coughed and sobbed, gripping my throat. "Maybe that will teach you to listen when I tell you to do something."

My stomach hurt; it felt like it was being torn apart, piece-by-piece. I couldn't respond, I simply leant against the wall and stared at the floor, my eyes so wide it hurt. Not a couple of minutes later I felt like throwing up. Everything was moving; there were colors and words and things that just weren't supposed to be there. I stumbled as I tried to get out of the room, to call for help, but my vision blurred and I fell over, smacking my head against the tile. The pain didn't register, only the sound.

"Holy shit- Roxas!" I heard Axel yell, and Demyx was close behind, but I couldn't move. I couldn't do anything, just lay there and cry as my vision blurred and swirled, black dots forming everywhere as my head and stomach overthrew my senses with pain.

And then, everything went black.

* * *

**CLIFFHANGER, I APOLOGIZE FOR IT. But it is needed. And so yeah... chapter 12 is on it's way. Within the next few weeks, because I've been working on some older stories of mine as well (do I hear Addicted being edited?). A few of them might be up on here soon, too! So I'm excited. But I'm pretty worked up over this story, so I'm nervous and excited to see what you guys will think. This is the farthest I've ever gotten, and I'm still going! u**

**Please do review, it will make me very happy! And thank you sososososo much to those of you who have reviewed for any of my past chapters, it means a whole lot!**


	12. Home

**Oh god here it is guys, chapter 12! Where all secrets unravel... DUN DUN DUUUNNN! Okay, sorry, it's four in the morning on a school night and I am going to totally regret staying up this late during school, but whatever. I had to finish a project and I really really really wanted to get this up. Thank you all, you wonderful, glorious, amazing readers! The amount of love I want to give you is bigger than my arms can reach.**

** Please enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Home**

"… had been doing so well…"

"… and I only left for a couple minutes to…"

"…wasn't you're fault, if anything blame us…"

The hospital smelled of bleach and death. I wrinkled my nose, groaning at the ache of my entire body. An IV was strapped into my arm, making me cringe. Those things freaked me out, not to mention it hurt. I tuned in on the voices, straining to make them clearer as I slowly came back into consciousness.

"What do you mean?" That was Axel. "You didn't do anything wrong."

"We did." And that was Cloud. What were they talking about? "If we told him, maybe this wouldn't have happened, but we didn't want him to live like that."

"Cloud, you gotta explain what you're talking about." He said, obviously as lost as I was.

Cloud let out a very long sigh. I internally raised an eyebrow, keeping extremely still. "Roxas has schizophrenia. We didn't notice until a while later, but the doctors assume he was born with it. We just thought he had a good imagination." He snorted. "That man he always talks about, he isn't even real. He's just some thing that his disorder is making him think is real. Had we noticed it sooner it might not have scarred him so much, but he's damn good at hiding things like that. When we found out, we didn't tell him because we didn't want him to think he was crazy or different; he was already quiet and depressed, telling him would only make it worse. So we kept it a secret, and had him take a medicine that's supposed to help keep his hallucinations at bay. They didn't help with his dreams, but it kept him from seeing things when he was awake. My only guess is that he stopped taking it, and something happened to cause this."

My mind was racing.

Schizophrenia? This sounded like some shitty soap opera. There was no way that… that he wasn't… real… No! He was lying! It was all a dream, that's what it was. I fell and hit my head in the bathroom, and everything was a dream. Yeah, that's what happened. There was no way that I had… had…

"Roxas?" Axel was by my bed, the sound of his voice making me jump and open my eyes. My stomach dropped when I realized that it wasn't a dream.

"Y-y-you're lying." I stared at Cloud, my eyes widening when he shook his head slowly. Despite my head feeling like it was going to split open and my stomach cramping I sat up, hands balling into fists. "It's not true! He's real! T-there's no way that-"

"Roxas, calm down, please." He said, Axel hurrying to hold me down.

I felt my vision blurring, but whether the tears were from anger or sadness or fear I couldn't tell. Everything was jumbled up as all of those memories flashed behind my eyes. They were too real to be false. How could he tell me that it had all been made up? That I was some phsyco?

"We should have told you, Roxas, I realize this now." Cloud said, his voice almost begging as I struggled against Axel's grip. "but we were going to wait until you could understand. We never thought this would happen. Roxas, you have to realize that he _isn't real_."

"You call this not real!" I screeched, holding out my exposed arms. Cuts and recent handprint bruises still coated my skin. I could tell they both winced at the sight. "You're telling me he didn't hurt me; that-that he never-"

"Mr, Strife, please calm down!" An unfamiliar voice called, probably a nurse. The heart-meter was beeping like crazy, more nurses or other workers or whatever they were in their blue hospital outfits rushing in. Axel stepped aside as the two workers held me down and the nurse shot something into my arm with a needle.

They held me until my breathing slowed and eyelids felt heavy. Darkness was closing in fast but I tried to fight it. I couldn't fall asleep, I just couldn't! I was so confused, there was no much I needed to know, but it wouldn't let me. My eyes closed and the darkness took over once again.

When I woke up this time, I couldn't move. My wrists and ankles were strapped down, refraining me from another possibly harmful tantrum, but sending cold chills of claustrophobia down my back. After a few minutes of sitting in silence a nurse came in with a clipboard and smiled at me when she noticed I was awake.

"How are you feeling, Mr. Strife?"

"Like shit." I mumbled.

The nurse frowned. "You're going to be experiencing some stomach pains and headaches from the amount of medicine you had in your system and from pumping your stomach. If you promise to behave, we can remove the restraints and allow your brother to visit you again." She said, checking a few things on her clipboard as she examined the machines that were scattered around the bed.

I clenched my teeth and nodded.

"Good. Now, if you need anything, just press that buzzer and I'll be here as fast as I can. I'll let your brother explain things to you more thoroughly, but you'll be required to stay the night here." With that she removed the restraints and checked a few more things before leaving. A couple of seconds later and Cloud was back in the room.

I glared at the wall.

"Roxas, look…" he sighed, gave up on the sentence, and started again. "I know it's difficult for you to understand right now, but I'm telling the truth. That's the thing with Schizophrenia, it makes you think what you're seeing is real. So… the doctors said you should see a physiatrist until you learn to control it. You'll be put on a different medication as well." There was a long silence, in which I nodded slowly. "Do you still want to move in with your friend, or – I would prefer – that you come live with me. Mom knows what happened, and she had a very long talk with Dad while you were out… which was about twelve hours, by the way. It's Saturday." He just kept rambling. I had never heard Cloud talk so much – he was usually a very quiet and emotionless person, yet he seemed like a nervous wreck at the moment. It made me feel just slightly worse for being so angry with him.

"I understand…" I said, my voice hoarse. I cleared my throat. "… but I'd still like to stay with Axel if that's okay."

Cloud nodded. "Alright. I'll – or you can if you would rather do it yourself – have a talk with his family. You'll stay on my health insurance. We'll figure out the details as we go…"

"Can I just… have a minute?" I asked, staring at the wall.

He nodded once again before stepping out of the room, closing the door behind him. I sighed and leaned back against the stiff pillows, closing my eyes. I couldn't believe any of this. It just… it felt so unreal.

Oh, the irony…

"Roxas?"

My eyes snapped open. Xion. She was standing near the far corner of the room, looking extremely washed out, as if she would disappear any minute. My body deflated. "Xion… you're…"

She nodded slowly, taking a hesitant step forward. "I'm afraid so…"

"So, it's true, then…? You both?" I asked.

"I wanted to tell you, but… that would mean I would disappear too. I'm so sorry, I was being so selfish." She cried, falling to her knees the second she reached the side of my bed. "I made you suffer because I didn't want to disappear, but it hurt you so much…"

I squeezed her hand tightly, a lump rising in my throat. How could she be a figment of my imagination when she felt so real? Her skin, her hair, her tears, I could feel them on my hand. How was she imaginary? "You didn't do anything wrong."

"B-but if I would have just told you, you would never have had to go through that… You could have gotten help so much sooner, you could be with your family, and you'd be so much happier…"

"Xion…" I sighed, brushing her hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ear. "If you had, I would never have made the friends I did here. I wouldn't have remembered you, I wouldn't know Axel, I wouldn't know his friends, or anything. I'm not mad at you for keeping it a secret so I could stay friends with you for so long, even if I did forget you after him."

"I tried to keep him away." She said, rubbing the tears from her face. "I tried to, but he kept getting past me… there's only so much I can do."

"Xion…?" I asked hesitantly. "How come I can see you now? I'd think all of the meds I'm on wouldn't let me see you…"

She shook her head. "They've worn off by now, but soon they'll be giving you a different kind. I won't ever see you again."

"That's not true, I'll always remember you, Xion." I said, swallowing the lump that just kept growing and growing in my throat. Xion had been my friend all throughout my childhood, ever since I could remember. She played with me whenever I got lonely and was always there to help me up. How could I have forgotten her so easily? "So… I'll make sure to see you again, even if it's just in a dream or what, okay?"

"Okay." She nodded.

There was a knock on the door that made us both jump. I rubbed my own eyes and turned back to her. "I guess… this is goodbye."

"Yeah."

I leaned over as she stood up, hugging her tightly. "Goodbye, Xion."

"Goodbye… Roxas…" she whispered, hugging back just as tightly.

I opened my eyes, and the room was empty. The knocking started again. "C-come in." I called, quickly rubbing my eyes free of any tears.

Axel poked his head in and grin, but his eyes remained sad and filled with worry. "Hey, you alright?"  
I nodded. "Y-yeah, just… Thinking."

He closed the door behind him before making his way over to the chair next to my bed. "Wow, huh?" he asked, letting out a nervous chuckle. "Who would have thought? But anyway, Cloud says you're still gonna move in with us. You sure you wanna do that?"

I raised an eyebrow. "If you don't want me to, I-"

"Whoa whoa whoa, I never said that!" he said quickly. "I'm just making sure you're not gonna regret it or anything. You seemed kind of hesitant last time, so just… making sure."

"No… I want to. It would be too weird living with Cloud, and I don't even want to think about what would happen if I moved back in with my parents."

Axel nodded. "Understood. Well, that's good because Demyx kind of brought all of your stuff over to my house already, so there's no doubt Aerith already has everything in your new room." He grinned. "She painted and everything; I hope you like blue."

I laughed. "Yeah, I like blue."

"Good, because you're going to be stuck with those colors." He said. "I told mom to wait and let you pick out colors, but she gets kind of ahead of herself, so…"

"It's fine, remind me to thank her later, though."

"Will do."

There was a short silence. I twiddled my thumbs together, biting the inside of my cheek. A couple of minutes later, the first question that popped into my head shot out my mouth. You are real, right?"

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "What?"

"Ah- um, sorry, just… I don't know. Nevermind." I said, glancing around the room at anything but Axel. "I'm just… really paranoid now, you know? I just found out that I'm _literally_ insane, I just… wanted to make sure you weren't… you know…"

Axel nodded, smiling slightly and leaned over to ruffle my hair. "Yeah, I'm real. Besides, if I weren't, you wouldn't have been able to see me half the time, right? Because of that medicine you had?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Don't worry, I'm not going to go disappearing on you any time soon."

"Thanks."

* * *

When Monday rolled around I was finally released from the hospital at nine in the morning and scheduled for all of my appointments and tests that had to be done to decide what type of medication to be used and when to see my physiatrist and all t hat jazz. I tried to get used to the idea that two of the most influential things in my life had never been real to begin with, but I just couldn't. I decided to tell myself – at least for the mean time – that Xion had moved to Alaska and he had been taken to a very secure jail up somewhere north. Like Antarctica or something crazy.

Cloud drove me to Axel's house after I was released from the hospital – my car already sitting in the driveway – and my mood brightened a little when Axel came running out the door like a child trying to catch the ice cream truck when he saw us arrive.

"Roxy!" he called, meeting me halfway up the driveway and pulling me into a bone-crushing hug. "Hey, guess what?"

"What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Welcome home!" he cheered, throwing a fist into the air.

I smiled. _Welcome home._ It had a nice ring to it, especially coming from Axel. I blushed at the thought and quickly shook it away. Turning to Cloud, Axel let go and stepped back, nudging my arm. I nodded before staring up at my brother.

"Behave." He told me. "Don't go getting any crazy ideas now that you're living with your best friend."

"Wouldn't dream of it." I said.

Catching me by surprise, he wrapped one arm around me and gave me a quick hug. "Hey, stay strong, got it?"

I nodded, smiling. With that Cloud went back to his car and waved a goodbye before driving off. I turned to Axel, who grinned and motioned for me to come inside. Aerith and Zack were waiting when we did.

"Good morning, boys!" Aerith smiled when we walked into the kitchen, scrambled eggs cooking in the pan in front of her. Zack was leaning against the wall, talking to someone on the phone. Whether he was arguing or joking with the person I couldn't tell, but sometimes he'd yell and other times he'd laugh. He waved at us, grinning before going back to his conversation. "Axel, why don't you show Roxas his room? Breakfast will be ready in a bit, but you've got time." His mom said, smiling at us.

"Will do." Axel nodded, grabbing my hand and pulling me up the stairs.

When we got to my room – the second door on the left, right next to Axel's – I gasped. The walls were a light blue, the carpet was off-white like the rest of the house, and a new, much bigger bed was in the corner of the room. A glass desk was sitting against the wall on the opposite side of the room. Shelves on the wall held pictures while a bookshelf sat at the foot of the bed against the wall. Not to mention the room was huge. "This-this is amazing." I breathed.

Axel shrugged, but grinned. "It used to be the guest room, but we hardly ever even have visitors so we figured it would be perfect. Oh, and sorry Mom and Kairi kind of unpacked everything without your permission, but I'm glad you like it."

"I don't mind; this is awesome." I said, letting myself fall onto the bed and breathe in the smell of the pillows and blankets. Don't ask me why but there's just something about the smell of clean sheets that calmed me down.

Axel chuckled, sitting down on the edge of the bed. "It's gonna be pretty cool with you living here."

"Yeah." I agreed, rolling over to stare at the ceiling.

"Think you'll like it here?" he asked, falling back when I twisted to lay sideways, kicking my feet over the edge.

"Definitely." We laid in silence for a while, the two of us just staring at the ceiling. "I'll need your help with my medication and stuff." I said after a while. "Like… remind me to take it and stuff. I don't know what will happen if I don't, and I'd rather not find out…"

"Alright." Axel nodded, turning to look me in the eye. My breath caught in my throat; they were just so mesmerizing… I was snapped out of my staring when he flicked me on the head.

"Ow! Hey!"

"You really freaked me out back there!" he scolded. "Do you know how scary it is to find your best friend passed out on the floor? And I had to deal with Demyx too!"

"Sorry, sorry! Jeez!" I sighed, rubbing at the spot on my head.

"_Never _worry me like that again."

"I won't." I promised, making sure to cover my forehead for a good few seconds after just in case he decided to attack again.

"Good."

I couldn't help but smile at him. Out of all the things that had happened, it seemed like Axel was the only thing to remain stable. No matter what happened he was always there. Without even thinking I leaned over and pressed my lips to his. "Thanks," I whispered, "for everything."

"My pleasure." He grinned, kissing back.

"Boys!" Aerith called, breaking our little moment of bliss. "Breakfast is ready!"

"Coming!" Axel yelled back, but we both remained where we were for a while, reluctant to leave. Eventually, though, he sat up and held out a hand to me. "Lets go eat, I'm starving."

"Same, hospital food sucks." I nodded, taking his hand. He pulled me to my feet and we hurried down the stairs. Breakfast with Axel's family – or well half of it, since Kairi and Reno were gone – was a lot different than any I had ever experienced. Much like dinner there was a lot of talking and laughter, occasionally a small argument, but it was all in good fun. Not to mention the food was amazing.

"Thanks for breakfast, Mrs. Gainsborough – er, Fair…?" I said, not sure which to call her. I had been used to Gainsborough for school, but her appropriate name was now Fair… Whoa, confusing.

"Aerith is fine, sweetie, you're welcome." She smiled, taking the plate from me and setting it in the sink. "Now don't think you can get away with skipping school for the whole day, mister." She said, turning to Axel with a stern look. He quickly held his hands up in a defensive manner. "You better get something done today; homework, chores, anything, don't just sit around all day!"

"Yes ma'am!" he said, saluting her before grabbing me by the wrist and making a run for his room. I laughed, running after and focusing on not tripping. She yelled after us, but we made it upstairs and both leaned against the door. "We're safe."

"I hope so." I gasped, trying to catch my breath from the running. It may not seem like far, but trust me, it was. At least, for an asthmatic lazy ass like me it was.

Axel chuckled, ruffling my hair as he made his way over to the TV and sat down on the floor. "Shall we do exactly what she told us not to do?" he asked, holding out a controller to me.

"With pleasure." I grinned and nodded, taking my seat next to him.

Yeah, this was home.

* * *

**When I was typing that last sentence, I accidentally spelled home "homo" I found that interesting. Hehe. **

**So... PLEASE DON'T HATE ME. OH GOD. I'VE BEEN DREADING THIS PART. Seriously. I'm extremely nervous about how you guys will feel about this, ah hahaha... I mean I think the twist is awesome, and I left tons of little hints throughout the story. I honestly hadn't decided that he was going to have Schizophrenia until about chapter 4 or 5 or so, but it just fit in perfectly. I think. So please review and tell me how you feel? Be nice if you don't like it though, hehe... ^^"**


	13. Discovering The Heart

**Hey guuuyysss~ chapter 13 is up! Yay! Gah I really do love this story, and I love YOU just as much! Soooo because I love you both so immensly, please enjoy this chapter. I think you'll find it to your liking~ mwaha, hopefully the next chapter will be up soon but I'm kind of working on some oneshots I hope to have up and not to mention my other two stories. I would also like to say that, due to certain things that have happened in my life (and I'm still struggling with a bit) I'll be getting help for a while, which may put a damper in the amount of time I have to work on my stories, so we'll have to see how long it takes for me to update ^^" **

**Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**Discovering The Heart**

I awoke to the smell of bacon and pancakes.

At first I was confused, but as soon as my eyes were open and I was taking in my surrounding I remembered just exactly where I was. The blue walls made me smile, and although it was so different from my apartment it already felt like home. I could grow to like this, a lot. Outside I could hear shuffling and the occasional arguing of family members. Not a minute later there was a nock on the door and Axel poked his head into the room. "Hey, if you want to take a shower better do it now, before Kairi claims the bathroom for an hour."

"Right, thanks." I said, climbing out of bed and walking out the door.

Axel ruffled my hair when I reached him and grinned. He looked tired. "Morning, Rox."

"Morning." I nodded, watching closely. Something seemed off about him, but I tried to brush off my suspicion and take a shower. Maybe he just didn't sleep well last night? I had been tossing and turning all night myself, but that was nothing new.

"Mom's got breakfast going so hurry up!" Axel called.

I didn't answer, but I did listen and made sure to go as quickly as I could. Besides, there were about five other people in the house who needed to get ready as well. After brushing my teeth, taking my medicine (which was already in the cabinet), and making sure my hair would dry the correct way I hurried out of the bathroom and back to my room to get dressed.

Breakfast consisted of pancakes, bacon, orange juice, and chaos. Everyone was rushing to eat and get going on time while still somehow managing to get into a playful argument at least once. Reno was the first to leave, followed by Zack and Kairi. Axel and I took his car to school after his mom kissed us both on the head.

"Have a good day you two." She smiled before shooing us off to get ready herself.

I was frozen for a second after that. It was such a simple gesture, but it meant a lot. It showed that they were really accepting me into their home. There was no time to waste though and I hurried out the door after Axel.

The second we arrived at school I was attacked by a mess of dark blonde hair sprinting towards me as soon as we entered the cafeteria. "Roxy!" Demyx cried, crushing me in a hug in the middle of the large room. A couple people turned and stared curiously. "Oh my god, I was _so_ worried! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." I laughed nervously, patting his back in an awkward attempt at comforting him.

"I thought you were going to die!"

"No, I'm fine." I repeated, shooting Axel a pleading look.

He grinned and pried Demyx off of me. "Alright, alright, give him some room to breathe, jeez."

"Don't be jealous of our love, Axel!" Demyx stuck his tongue out, pressing his cheek against mine and hugging me tighter. I raised an eyebrow.

"Excuse me? Last time I checked he never kissed _you_, Dem." Axel said, hands on his hips. My face nearly exploded when he brought that up. God, why! Why did he have to mention that?

"Oh but just you wait! In due time, my friend!" he pointed an accusing finger, but yelped when Axel grabbed it and bent it backwards. "Ow ow ow! Okay okay, I give up! He's all yours! Have mercy!"

Axel released his hand, a satisfied look on his face. "And what was the lesson we learned today?"

"Don't mess with other people's things…" Demyx mumbled, cradling his finger.

"Since when, exactly, am I your property, Axel?" I piped up, and although there was teasing in my voice I was curious as to how he came to this conclusion.

"Since the day you were born, Roxy." Axel said, his hand dropping onto my head and ruffling my hair. "You have no choice in the matter. Now lets sit down, we have a table for a reason."

I swatted his hand away, covering my head protectively. "Yeah whatever, just quit doing that!"

"Awwe but your reactions are too cute for me to stop!"

"That doesn't justify it!"  
"Oh but it does." Demyx grinned, the three of us now sitting at one of the many round tables.

"You guys suck."

"Ah but you love it." Axel said, causing me to stop and think.

The moment of my silence went unnoticed. I smiled and, my voice extra quiet, I whispered to myself. "Yeah, I guess I do."

Axel froze, staring at me as if he didn't believe what he just heard. To be honest, I didn't really either. When he realized that I had, in fact, said what he thought I did, he grinned and winked.

The bell for homeroom rung shortly after that, . Sora said that he hoped I was feeling better (assuming that I had been home sick) and then asked me about my weekend before rambling on about how amazing his had been; apparently things were smooth-sailing for him and Riku.

"Hey Sora." I said, taking a deep breath.

"Yeah Roxas?"

"How…" I felt so stupid for asking him something like this. "How do you know if you love someone? Like, how can you tell that you love Riku? Or he loves you?"

"Hm…" Sora thought for a moment, finger tapping his chin and a very serious look on his face. "Well, it's hard to explain. For me, I just look at him and I just kind of know that he's perfect for me. Though I guess butterflies in your tummy can be a sign, or just being really happy when you even just think about them. Do you like someone?"

"I… well, I know I _like_ someone, I just…" I sighed, looking away. This was embarrassing to talk about, even to Sora! He was just Sora for Christ's sake! "I don't know if I _love_ them or anything."

"Well, if it makes you feel any better I didn't know I loved Riku until we started dating." Sora said, smiling widely.

"Then why'd you go out with him if you weren't sure?"

"Because, Roxas!" he flicked my forehead. "You have to take chances or you'll never get anywhere! Love doesn't happen all at once; you have to work at it and sometimes it takes a really _reaaallllyy_ long time for a couple to finally notice they love each other."

I went over that bit of information in my head. It did sort of make sense… "But what if you're best friends? If there were the chance that it wasn't love and you need to break up, wouldn't it be too awkward? You'd loose that friend."

"Chances, Roxas!" he said sternly. "You have to take chances! Be adventurous! Don't be afraid to let your heart speak for itself. Riku and I were best friends before we started dating, and look where we are now? If he hadn't asked me out we would both just still be friends and not making the most out of what our relationship could have been."

"I guess you're right." I nodded slowly, my eyebrows furrowing. Right… take chances. I let out a sigh. This was going to be difficult.

* * *

Namine sat, dumbfounded. "You… _what?"_

I sighed. "Nam, don't make me tell you the whole story all over again."

"N-no, I'm just… wow." She breathed. "I'm so sorry, are you alright?"

"Uh, yeah… I'm dealing." I laughed nervously, not to mention I was out of breath from explaining basically my entire life in the span of fifteen minutes. I was reluctant, of course, but this was Namine. She was just about as trustworthy as Axel with this information, if not more.

"This is… I mean, this crazy. Part of me is relieved that it wasn't a real person, but at the same time, to have no escape like that…" She took a deep breath and brushed her hair behind her ear. "The important thing is that you're alright. Axel knows, right?"

"Y-yeah, he was… he was there."

"He saw it happen?" She gasped.

"No, but he found me right after. And he was at the hospital the whole time." I explained, frowning when I remembered that I had freaked out on both him and Cloud.

"I'm glad that you opened up to him, Roxas." She smiled sadly. "He has been through a lot as well; and I know that he's good for you."

I blushed slightly. "Ah, yeah, well…"

"You're living with his family now, correct?"

I nodded. "That's right."

"How's that going?"

"Well, they're pretty, uh, _lively_."

"You put it so nicely." She grinned, understanding what I meant. Surely being Demyx's sister she had seen Axel's family before.

"Well it's not like they're bad, just… loud." I said, shrugging.

"Yes, but they can be very sweet."

I nodded, smiling. "Yeah." After that we got back to work, Namine taking the register in front of mine so we could still talk if no one was checking out. The sucky thing about working at a grocery store was that everyone seemed to need to get groceries every day. There was hardly ever a day that wasn't busy, but it did happen every now and then.

I got off work at eight, Namine and I staying after out by our cars to talk for a bit more. "We should hang out again soon." I said. "Like, outside of work."

"I agree." She nodded, smiling. "Should we go to the mall again?"

I glared at her. "No way."

"So you still remember. I am sorry that I embarrassed you in front of Axel though." She giggled softly. "We don't have to go there though, we could go get coffee somewhere, or you could even come over. I have a lot of sketches at my house that I want to show you, and you could help me out with some that I'm working on."

"Yeah, that sounds good. I have to ask though… I don't have to wear a dress this time, do I?" My voice was almost begging. I prayed that she wouldn't make me dress up again for her drawing pleasure.

Namine laughed, shaking her head. "Oh no, you don't have to dress up this time. I'm working on portraits, so it will only be your face and hair that I need."

"Good, then I'm all for it." I grinned, unlocking my car and climbing in. "See you tomorrow!"  
"Bye Roxas!" she waved, walking the short distance over to her car. I smiled. What would I do without a friend like her?

The drive back to Axel's house was a lot longer than the usual five minutes to my apartment, but I didn't mind that much. It gave me time to think, and surprisingly put me in a very good mood. I was glad to get everything off of my chest and tell Namine; she had only ever known bits and pieces of the full story. I didn't really know why I kept it from her, seeing as I knew she would be understanding (to the best of her ability, anyway) and sympathetic. She wouldn't like… disown me for something I couldn't help.

I had been lying on Axel's bed for about an hour, our homework spread out around us. Part of the situation made me laugh – who knew the Big Scary Axel actually did all of his homework? Not that he didn't complain about it, mind you. The constant 'this is boring's or 'I hate school/homework's were endless. Still, he never stopped no matter how much he said he hated it.

"Rooxxxyy" Axel whined, dropping his head into his math textbook. "Lets do something fun."

"Like what?" I asked, finishing up the last question of my Forensics assignment.

It was silent for a moment before he sighed in defeat. "I don't know."

I poked his head, laughing when he groaned every time I did. Five times and he had had enough he rolled over, grabbing my wrist as he did and pulled with him. I gasped when I landed on his stomach.

"Did you mean what you said?" He asked, suddenly very serious.

"W-what? When?"

"At school."

"In the cafeteria?" I asked, just to make sure we were thinking of the same thing. He nodded. "Um, well…" Sora's voice popped into my head. _'Be adventurous! Don't be afraid to let your heart speak for itself.'_ My body reacted on it's own. I crashed my lips against his, practically forcing his mouth open and pouring every emotion into the kiss. Every fear, every lie, my happiness, sadness, confusion and frustration; it was all there. I didn't know what I was feeling, I didn't know if it was right or not, but in those few moments I made sure that he knew everything.

I pulled away slowly, my breath uneven as I tried to get air back in my lungs. "I hope… that answers your question." I whispered.

A smirk spread across his lips. His voice was just as quiet and breathless as mine. "I believe it does." With that he rolled us back over so our positions were reversed and locked our lips together once again. I pulled him close – as close as he could possibly get and it still didn't feel like it was enough. _Why wasn't he close enough?_ My heart was practically aching from the frustration. If this is what love felt like… then it really sucked.

I practically jumped ten feet in the air when the door slammed open. Kairi stood in the doorway, but whatever she had come to tell us was forgotten as her face twisted into shock and disgust. "Oh my god! Ew! Ew! Ew!" she yelled, slamming the door shut again. "You guys are nasty!"

"The hell do you want Kairi?" Axel called back, ignoring her comments.

"God, never mind! I can do it myself!"

Axel sighed irritably. "Sometimes I _hate_ being related to them." He looked down at me and grinned. "You alright there?"

I nodded, but my face was bright red and I was stiff as a board. Axel laughed and, brushing my bangs out of my face, kissed my forehead. "Don't worry, she freaks out over everything."

"I-I was just… surprised." I mumbled, looking away.

"Yeah, well, get used to people randomly bursting in without knocking." Axel sighed. "None of the bedrooms have locks or anything, and my family doesn't really know how to be polite. Well, except for Mom, but even she forgets sometimes."

"I see." I said dreadfully.

He rolled his eyes and smiled, trailing his kisses from my forehead to my cheek and then stopping right on the corner of my mouth. "You'll be fine, don't worry."

I hummed in response as he closed the distance between us. How could such a simple action make my stomach burst into a billion butterflies? But they were the good kind, the ones that made your heart flutter as well, and I didn't really mind them one bit.

This time there was a knock on the door when we were interrupted. Axel groaned but rolled over. "What?"

His mother opened the door, peaking her head in with a smile. "Axel, would you mind helping your sister? She needs help painting the board for her poster and your father and I are busy."

"Yeah, sure." He sighed, climbing off of the bed and adjusting his clothes before heading towards the door.

"Thanks honey. It'll only take a few minutes."

Wait, if he left now, when would I be able to tell him how I felt? How would I be able to bring it up again? It wasn't every day I had this amount of bravery. I jumped off of Axel's bed, running over to him and grabbed his arm. "Axel, I-"

"I know." He said, winking. "Don't worry about it."

I nodded slowly, swallowing the lump of nerves in my throat. I really hoped he did.

"It's getting late, you should be good to take your medicine and hop in bed." Axel said, brushing my bangs out of my face to kiss my forehead. "Good night, Roxy."

"Night, Axel…" I mumbled, letting out a sigh as he hopped down the stairs. I really hoped that this was a good idea.

Following his advice, I made my way to the bathroom to brush my teeth and take my medicine, retiring to my room to read until I felt tired enough to falla sleep. But as one rolled around and I still didn't feel even the tiniest bit drowsy, I sighed and closed my book, turning to stare at the ceiling. My mind began wandering, thinking about everything that had happened earlier. Had I not just basically told Axel that I was saying yes to his question? But was I really ready for that yet? So much had happened, and I was still so overwhelmed, but at the same time he was the only thing that seemed to be there no matter what. He was like a safe place, a sanctuary I could always run to. What if something went wrong? What if we weren't meant to be more than friends? I had so many questions that I would never know the answer to, and it scared me. It raised my normal anxiety to peeks I hadn't felt for a long time – or at least it felt that way. I sighed, rolling over. I needed to stop thinking so much.

Close your eyes, deep breaths, go to sleep.

Ten minutes passed and I finally let out a frustrated sigh before throwing the covers off and hopping out of bed. Slowly, I opened the door just enough to let myself slip through, walking as quietly as I could. I passed by Axel and his parent's rooms, letting out a breath I had held once I reached the bottom of the stairs. A bit quicker than before I made my way into the kitchen in search of something to drink or snack on.

"Can't sleep?"

I jumped, almost knocking a couple of glasses out of the shelf when I did. "Ah- uh, y-yeah."

Axel smiled, arms crossed as he stood at the opposite end of the room. He made his way over to the fridge and pulled out the carton of milk before going back in search of other ingredients. "Get out two mugs, will you? They're in the drawer to the left of the sink." he said quietly.

I did as he told me without saying a word, setting two mugs on the counter before looking to see what all Axel had gotten. I raised an eyebrow. Vanilla, milk, and… caramel?

"It may seem weird but it tastes delicious, and always helps me get to sleep." He explained, pouring the milk in first and then adding the two other ingredients. "I came up with it myself one night; tried to make something called moon milk, but I didn't really like the taste, so I lessened the vanilla and put caramel instead of sugar."

"Where'd you get the idea for caramel?" I asked hesitantly, watching as he put one of the mugs in the microwave.

"Trial and error." He grinned and tapped his temple. "And this genius noggin right here. I saw it in the fridge and thought 'hey, why not?' sometimes you just gotta take chances and you'll get something amazing."

I froze_. That's basically the same thing Sora had told me_… We waited in silence for the two cups of the milk mixture to warm up before Axel handed one to me, leaning against the counter as he sipped at his own.

"So, how you holding up?" he asked.

I shrugged my shoulders, staring at the cream-colored milk. "I… I don't know. It's weird, I just… can't really put my finger on how I feel about everything that's happened right now." I took a hesitant sip of the drink. Surprisingly it tasted pretty good.

Axel nodded. "Don't think too much, you'll wear out your brain doing that." He said, grinning. "It's only been a few days, so just take it slow, alright?"

"Yeah…" I sighed, pausing to take another drink. "I guess I just still need some time to get used to everything."

"That's perfectly natural."

"Mm…"

"Hey, look at me." He said, suddenly right in front of me, holding my chin in his fingers. "I mean it when I say that, alright? You don't need to rush into making yourself deal with things, that'll only stress you out even more. For now you just need to sit back for a bit and take your mind off of things."

"Then… will you help me?" only after I said it did I realize that could be taken in a very wrong way. I wanted to take it back, but it was too late.

Axel seemed to falter for a second – obviously he noticed it too – but shook his head and nodded. "I'll do everything I can."

* * *

**D'awww. Well there you have it, chapter 13, in all it's glory. Nyahaha, prepare yourselves, lovelies! The happiness can only last for so long!**

**Well, anyway, please review! It makes my heart flutter with joy when you do~**


	14. Questions and Answers

**OKAY. REAL QUICK, I HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY: THIS STORY WILL NOT BE OVER UNTIL I WARN YOU A GOOD COUPLE CHAPTERS BEFORE. TRUST ME, YOU WILL KNOW WHEN THE ENDING IS COMING UP! I have been having quite a few people either asking or simply _assuming_ that the story is over when it is, in fact, not! So please, do not worry about it suddenly ending, because trust me, I will warn you guys. YOU WILL KNOW.**

**ALSO! I forgot to mention in the last chapter, but that milk/caramel/vanilla drink thingy that Axel made for them... I came up with it :D Yeah, the story he told y'all was true! That happened to me! Lol, just thought you should know. It's really yummy, too. Well, I think it is... xD**

**Alright, that's all. Please do enjoy this chapter, it was fun to write o3o**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Questions and Answers**

Halloween.

I had completely forgotten about it, honestly, but Axel hadn't. And now it was only two days away.

"We should go trick or treating." He said suddenly, breaking me out of my reading trance as he let his head hang off the edge of my bed.

I focused on trying to find my place again. "Um… why?"

"Why not!" he exclaimed, throwing his arms in the air. "We've got nothing to do, everyone's going to be gone, we should do something too!"

"Aren't we supposed to watch the house and pass out candy and stuff?" I asked, opting for just putting the bookmark in and closing my book.

"That's no fun."

"We could get costumes."

"Still not fun enough!"

"Axel," I sighed, turning to stare at him. "We're not going trick or treating. That's something that dies out after elementary school."

"Demyx will trick or treat with me." He pouted, rolling over onto his stomach.

"I do not disagree with that."

"You should come with uuussss."

"No."

"Why not?"

"I don't trick or treat." I said. "I don't care if you want to dress up or something but I'm not leaving the house in some ridiculous costume. Besides, I really doubt parents want to be handing out candy to some crazy teenagers."

"We'll use you and Namine as bait. You two are young enough to pass as children."

I punched him in the arm.

"Ow, ow! Okay we won't do that! Jeez." he whined, clutching at his arm. "What crawled up your ass and died?"

"Your ridiculous idea, that's what." I growled.

"Seriously, why are you so against trick or treating? Don't you want a whole bunch of candy? Scare some children? Piss off some adults? Where's your sense of adventure!"

"I just don't see the point." I shrugged. "I would rather stay home and watch TV and eat the left over candy. It's much better than having to work at getting it."

"You're no fun at all."

I rolled my eyes, reaching to put my book on the nightstand when I felt something jab into my side. At first I screamed, then I laughed. I laughed so hard my eyes started watering and I curled into a ball, wiggling and squirming to try and get him to stop, but he just wiggled his fingers, making it tickle even more. "A-Axel! S-s-stop!"

"Not until you tell meee." He grinned.

"Y-you suck." I gasped/laughed, trying to shove him away but my attempts were weak.

"Come on just say why you wont go trick or treating."

"B-because I don't w-want to!"

"But why!"

"J-just because!" I started kicking; another bad instinct I had when I was being tickled. Either I curled right up into a ball or my legs flailed everywhere. My foot came in contact with his body and Axel let out a very unmanly yell, ceasing his tickling. My eyes widened. "Oh god I'm _really_ sorry, Axel!"

He shook his head, curling his legs up into the fetal position. "Shiiitt…" his groan came out as a squeak. I had hit him where it hurts most, no doubt about it.

"I-in my defense… I did tell you to stop." I said nervously.

"Whatever." He groaned, sitting there for a few more seconds before slowly sitting up. "Okay, note to self; don't tickle Roxas unless his feet are restrained."

"No." I corrected irritably. "Don't tickle Roxas _period_."

"I think I like my idea better." He grinned. Well, he got over _that_ fast.

I rolled my eyes, about to respond when my phone started ringing. We both raised our eyebrows. "Hello?"  
"Roxas!" Sora yelled, making me pull the phone away from my ear. "I really really reeeaaalllyyy need your help! Are you free? Can you help me?"

"Uh… That depends."

"Okay, so Halloween is coming up and Riku's brothers always throw this huuggee party, so we're going this year, but I need help finding a costume! You can bring Axel or anyone just please help me!" he begged, a continuous string of 'please please please' following.

I glanced at Axel, almost pleading him to come with me. There was only so much Sora I could handle in a day, and that was usually taken up by homeroom. Sadly, Axel just held up his hands in a defensive manner. "He's all yours."

"Uh… yeah, I guess. When?" I sighed.

"Right now! I'll pick you up! You are sooo awesome Roxas, thank you sooo much!"

'Uh, yeah, your welcome-"

"Oh!" he said suddenly. "What's your address?"

I raised an eyebrow towards Axel. It hadn't occurred to me that I never memorized the address, only where his house was. Huh. Thankfully Axel knew his own address and recited it for me to tell Sora.

"Alright, I'll be there in like five minutes!" the phone beeped, signaling the end of the call.

"Oh god." I breathed. "He's probably a worse driver than you."

"Hey, I take offense to that!" Axel said, feigning upset. "I am a very good driver, thank you. Not once have I gotten a speeding ticket or anything!"

"How you managed that I will never know." I sighed, hopping off of the bed. "I'm gonna get ready, you sure you don't want to come with?"

"Oh yeah, I'm sure." He grinned. "You two have fun, I'll call Demyx up or something."

"Alright, then I guess I'll get ready." I said, rummaging through my clothes for a shirt that was actually clean. Axel left a few moments later, waving goodbye with a two-fingered salute and a wink.

It had been a week since Axel told me to take things slow and relax. In that time Axel helped me keep my mind off of things, usually by hanging out with my in my room or playing video games in his room. I also managed to get on a semi-decent sleeping pattern of going to bed at midnight on weekdays, and a bit later on weekends. However, I still woke up in the middle of the night. Nightmares crept up on me during those times, when I was either half or fully asleep. That man was still there, lurking in the shadows.

Just the very thought made me shiver.

I shook my head free of any bad thoughts or memories and focused on adjusting my hair to make it look a little less messy.

Sora arrived about five minutes later, just as he had said. I wondered how far away he lived, but disregarded asking him. He greeted me with a smile and very big hello before we were off to Nobbies, the oh-so-amazing Halloween and party store.

Only we couldn't find anything.

Not at first, at least. Sora got extremely frustrated only twenty minutes in, plowing through costumes and tossing them aside with only one glance. In the last row he groaned, almost ripping the bee costume in his hands apart. "Nothing is right!"

"Sora, just keep looking, you'll find something." I told him, taking the costume and placing it back on the rack before looking to see if there was anything that seemed interesting. I picked up a pirate costume. "Look, this is cool."

"But it's not what I'm looking for!" he sighed. "I want something that's really cool and that nobody else will be wearing!"

"Then shouldn't you have just made a costume?"

"I didn't have time! And I don't know how!"

"Okay, well, does your mom know how? Or your dad?"

"I don't have a mom and my dad has never touched a sewing machine in his life." Sora deadpanned, and then suddenly deflated. "I'm never going to find a costume."

"Yes you will," I said, nudging his arm encouragingly. "You just have to keep looking. We'll find something awesome, and Riku will love it."

That seemed to perk up his confidence a little bit. Mentioning Riku always seemed to make him feel better. We continued looking, scanning the isles for something we might have missed. Halfway through, Sora turned to me. "You should look for something for yourself too, Roxas."

"I'm not doing anything for Halloween though."

"What? Aren't you coming to the party?"  
I raised an eyebrow. "Um, no… I have to watch the house."

Sora pouted. "Awe, but you have to! At least for a little bit. Your parents won't mind, will they?"

"I…" I let out a sigh. "I don't know. I'll have to ask."

"You should still get a costume, though, in case you can go."

I was hesitant. Halloween didn't really sound like the best idea, at least not for me. There were going to be all kinds of people in crazy outfits and things, how would I be able to tell if they were real or not? _But the medication is supposed to help with that…_ But what if it didn't? What if they had alcohol there, and it messed with my brain? _Then don't drink it._

"Roxas?" Sora asked, waving a hand in my face. "You don't have to go if you don't want to, it would just be fun if you could."

"Uh, yeah, sorry… I'll think about it, okay?"

"Alright." He smiled. "But in the mean time… lets find a costume!"

"Yeah." I grinned before we tackled the seemingly endless racks of costumes.

* * *

I fell onto my bed face first, letting out a groan. Axel laughed, flopping down next to me seconds later. "Rough day?"

"My legs hurt…" I mumbled into the pillow. The amount of walking we had done was insane, and for so long, too. We had ended up taking a break when we still couldn't find anything and, since Sora said it was close by, walked to a Star Bucks for coffee and a snack. However, we got lost. It took us about half an hour to find it, and then we had to walk all the way back.

"Is shopping really that difficult?"

"For that long, yes." I said, turning my head so I could breathe. "But we got lost."

"In the store?"

"Outside! Trying to find Starbucks! And he made us _walk_ because he said it was close but we got lost!" I groaned.

Axel laughed. "Sorry to hear that, Roxy. If it makes you feel any better, mom got ingredients to make some Halloween cookies and she said that we could make them."

"Can we do it tomorrow?"

"Yes, grumpy, we can do it tomorrow." He said, roughly messing up my hair with his hand.

"It'll have to be after work." I said.

"Alright. When do you get off tomorrow?"

"Not until late, because of Halloween. And then I've gotta work Halloween in the morning, but I get off at three then."

"We'll do it on Halloween then." He decided.

Axel had been acting strangely, ever since that night about a week ago. Well, thinking back, he hadn't been acting all that normal since I came to live with him. It wasn't very noticeable, but he would space off, sometimes with a sad look on his face, and other times you could just _tell_ he either wasn't getting enough sleep or hadn't eaten much. Not to mention he had spent most of his time away from the house. Part of me wondered if that was what I looked like to him when I was like that.

I asked Namine about it at work.

"Well, what happened before he started acting like that?" she asked, leaning over the checkout counter. We had to pause in between our conversations a lot since the store was busy, but we managed.

I sighed. "I… well I kind of kissed him, but after that… he told me I didn't have to worry about it, because he knew I was going through a lot and stressing myself out."

"Well there's an obvious problem."

"But he was acting weird before then, too." I said. "This just seemed to make it worse…"

It was Namine's turn to sigh. "Roxas, he's probably very stressed out as well. He's like you in that he likes to hide his problems. From what you've told me about the hospital and your past and now doing those types of things with him, he's probably just trying to wrap his head around everything, like you are." We both paused to run through our lines of customers before she continued. "But Axel doesn't want to show you that he's worried, because that would in turn make you just even more stressed. That or he thinks that if he tells you he's overwhelmed by what's going on you'll take it the wrong way. This is a lot for a person to go through in only a few days, Roxas. Does this make sense?"

I nodded slowly. "Yeah… I guess. But what should I do?" I groaned.

"Talk to him." I gave her a deadpan look that said it would obviously be difficult to talk to him about that. "Or… you could just try and help him out by showing him that you're there for him. This is basically just a reverse situation than what he did for you."

"That… makes sense." I sighed, dropping my head in my hands. "I just don't know if it will work."

"If he doesn't cooperate, force it out of him." She said sternly. "Trust me, Axel's not the kind of person to go down without a fight, but if someone doesn't talk to him then he'll just bottle it all up until he explodes, and I do not want to see him like that again." And, averting her gaze, she added very quietly. "None of us do."

I didn't ask what she was talking about, though from what Marluxia had told me I could guess small snippets. I almost slapped myself in the face; how could I have been so stupid to not realize that I wasn't the only person that was affected by this?

Once work was over and I was heading to my car, I was stopped abruptly by someone grabbed the collar of my shirt and slamming me against the car. I almost screamed before I noticed it was Marluxia himself.

And he was _not_ happy.

"You little shit, did you not listen to a _single_ thing I told you?" he growled, making me flinch as his fist raised just enough to know that he was at snapping point.

I didn't respond, thinking (hoping) it was best to remain silent in a confrontation like this.

"Don't play dumb with me, I know Axel, I know the signs – we all do – when something is wrong, and let me fucking tell you, he has not acted like this for years! And now suddenly he's harldy eating, hardly sleeping, and you don't even give a damn?" his fist was right behind his head now, ready to smash into my face.

"I-I didn't notice, I'm sorry-" I winced, pulling at his hand. Damn my astma for being so connected to my nervous system; not only was I starting to freak out but I couldn't breathe.

"Don't give me that crap, you're with him _every single day_." Marluxia spat. "What the hell did you do to make him act like this?"

"I-I didn't do anything!" I gasped, my other hand searching blindly for my inhaler. "Look, I'm sorry – just let me go talk to him-"

"I think you've done enough." He growled. "Don't think I didn't warn you, and for the record, everyone else is pretty pissed too. So this is my present from them."

I closed my eyes, his fist coming in contact with my face. The pain didn't happen until a second after, but when it did it hit like a buttlet train. I clutched my face, refusing to scream but still a very winded gasp escaped and I hunched over, no longer being pressed against the car.

"Marluxia!" Namine screamed, running out from the store and grabbing his arm. "What is _wrong_ with you!"

"You know very well what is wrong!" He yelled back. "Axel's acting exactly like he did when Genisis changed, and we all know it's because of him!" an accusing finger was pointed at me, but I was too engrossed in the pain that I hardly took notice. My vision was blurred, one eye completely closed and no doubt I was sporting a nosebleed.

"Do not blame Roxas for this! It's not his fault!" She yelled, her tiny hands balled up in angry fists. I had never seen Namine so angry before. "Get out of here right now, and don't bother going to anyone else. Axel's going to have a field day beating the crap out of you when he finds out what happens."

"Don't-" I said, holding out my hand that wasn't glued to my face to her. "Don't tell him."

"What?" they both asked.

"Look," I stood up straight, staring directly at Marluxia. "I understand that you're angry, and yes, it is partly my fault, and I do kind of deserve to be punched-"

"Roxas-"

I shook my head, cutting her off. "But I do promise you that it was not intentional, nor was most of it optional. A lot of shit has been happening lately and I was too dense to realize that he was being affected as well. So I'm not going to tell him, I'm going to fix it, and that's going to be the end."

Marluxia nodded stiffly, obviously not trusting but willing to agree. "If you mess up one more time-"

"Then you have every right to beat the shit out of me as much as you want." I finished.

"hmph." He walked away after that, Namine rushing to inspect my face.

"We should take you to a doctor." She said worriedly.

"I'm fine, I'll just patch it up when I get back." I shrugged. "Not the first time I've had to cover something like this up. And for all Axel knows, I got mauled by falling boxes."

"I doubt he'll believe that." She sighed.

"Then what do you suggest?"

"Telling him the truth?"

I sighed. "I'm not a tattle tale. Besides, I already told Marly I wouldn't say anything."

"I hope you know what you're doing." She mumbled, letting her hand rest reassuringly – or maybe in a search for comfort – on my arm. With that she left, and I climbed in my own car to get back home.

I ran up the stairs and right into the bathroom once I got back home. I pulled out the cover-up, a box of tissues, and a washcloth. First I got the washcloth wet and gently dabbed away the dried blood from my nose, of which had dripped down onto my clothes, bit it wasn't much. I did my best to hide the bruise, but cover-up only does so much. It was swelling up like a balloon and still had a purple tint to it.

There was a knock on the door, making me jump and knock over the bottle. "Roxy you okay in there?"

"Y-yeah." I called, quickly going to clean up the mess on the floor. "I'll be out in a second, just uh, brushing my teeth."

"Alright."

I sighed, turning the water on to try and rinse off the red from the white towel. Why did they have to have white towels?

I attempted to add just a bit more cover-up to my cheek and eye. Now that the bruise had finally set in, the purple was getting much more noticeable. I groaned. It was hardly working at all. When the towel was no longer spotted with red and my eye looked semi-normal, I braved the outside world.

It was just my luck that Axel walked by right when I opened the door. He eyed me suspiciously, glancing down at my shirt for a split second. My heard sunk when he did a double take. Well, that didn't last long.

His eyes widened and he grabbed my shirt. "Is that blood?"

I averted my gaze. "Oh, I didn't notice that. I must have gotten cut stacking boxes or something. Cardboard is actually very sharp, you know."

"Roxas." He said sternly. "What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Something obviously happened."

"Well I said nothing did."

He was getting pissed. This was not good. Wasn't I supposed to make him less angry? "Roxas."

I braved the growing beast and sized him up, standing straighter and looking him directly in the eye. "Axel."

"What happened?" he asked, jaw clenched tightly.

"Nothing did."

"Why won't you just tell me?"

I glared back. Time to take a stab. "Why won't you tell me what's going on with you?"

"Because there's nothing going on with me." He said.

"Then there's absolutely nothing going on with me." I answered, making sure my composure remained calm while inside I was screaming like a little girl. Could I not have a more stupid idea?

"Why are you being impossible?" he groaned, voice rising slightly.

"Why are _you_?" I asked, my turn to be stern. "You've been so depressed lately. You think I can tell that something's wrong? You look horrible, and you're constantly gone somewhere. You space off, you're falling asleep constantly; you're acting exactly like I did! You think I _like_ seeing you like this?"

Axel was silent. He looked away, falling back on his attack.

I figured it was best to fall back as well, returning to very calm and sincere. "You can tell me. I'm not going to get mad or anything, seriously. Just don't do what I did and bottle it up, because that's going to get you absolutely nowhere."

He let out a very long sigh. "I'm frustrated, alright?"

"Why?"

"Because!" he yelled, clutching at the railing of the stairs. "Because I have no fucking idea how to help you! When you… when you went to the hospital, do you know how scared I was? When I found you on the floor? They told me that if no one had showed up, you would have died. _Died_, Roxas! As in _never_ coming back! And then-then Cloud says that that man wasn't real, that it was all just in your head, it's crazy! I had thought so many times of maybe just finding him, finding him because had hurt you but I _can't!_ Do you know how _frustrating_ is it to know that no matter what I do, I can never fully protect you? That if something happens again, I won't be able to do _anything_?"

"That's not true." I said, speaking around the lump in my throat. How many times had it been now that I was on the brink of tears? "That's not true. You can't even imagine how much you have helped me already. If you hadn't have been there, if I never even met you, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere. Do you know why? Because I probably would have killed myself before I even had the chance, whether intentionally or not. You helped me _so much_. You're the reason I'm living, and actually trying to _enjoy_ life."

We were both silent for a very long time, just standing there as feet shuffled around downstairs. It finally occurred to me that we weren't the only people in the house. That made my stomach drop slightly, but I kept my cool.

Axel was the first to speak, averting his gaze to the ground near his foot. His hand seemed to loosen from the staircase and all signs of anger seemed to have evaporated. "I just… I have no idea what I'm supposed to do."

"Honestly? I don't either. I'm so confused right now that sometimes I just want to scream." I said. "But for now we just have to get over it and just… we'll see what happens when and _if_ we get there."

"I guess that's all we can do." He nodded, seeming much more confidant. He was back to the Axel I knew, or at least getting there.

I thought for a moment, remembering something very important. I took a step closer. "And Axel, I'm sorry that I made you wait so long for a definite answer, but I finally have one for you."

He raised an eyebrow. "And that would be…?"

Taking another step forward I raised myself up on my toes in order to reach and wrapped my arms around his shoulders, lifting myself up just the tiniest bit more to press my lips to his. I made sure it was slow, and pulled away even slower, moving my mouth to his ear.

"My answer is yes, I will _definitely_ go out with you… if you still want a psychopath like me for a boyfriend."

"I wouldn't want you any other way." he grinned, pulling me closer and kissing me again. I could have sworn I heard a chorus of 'awe's' coming from somewhere downstairs.

* * *

**Oh god don't hate meeee. Well, you can't hate me, right? They got together! It's all happy! Yay! It's the next chapters or so that you need to be worried about... but I haven't written them yet so I still need to decide when, where, and what is going to happen! **

**Sorry for making Marly kind of a jerk... I don't hate him, I swear D: It's just... sometimes people need a punch in the face to realize things. Like... a punch of enlightenment :U (mwaha, Roxy is going to say that next chapter, just fyi o3o) **

**Okay, time to write chapter 15 and work on other stories and stuff o3o Review pleeeaaaassseee!**


	15. Do the Trick or Treat

**Dude I'm on a role with this story. I mean, holy crap. Sadly I'm kind of ignoring my other stories in favor of this one. Shh don't tell but I kind of like this one best so far. So Halloween is here! Yaaay. Well, in the story, that is. Sadly Halloween has not arrived in real life yet, but it is coming up! Hurray o3o**

**So I was going to have a little contest for the hundredth reviewer, but as you can probably see, we're over 100! *cheers and cries from happiness* Can I just give you all a huge, giant, love-filled hug? Seriously. I got so freaking excited. We're close to 100 pages on my Word document as well. YAAY! So I was wondering if I should hold a little contest for the 120th reviewer or something close. Ya know, write you a one-shot or something and congratulate you in my little pre-chapter author notes? Does that sound cool? Or totally lame?**

**OH and thank you Majestic Stardust for giving me the idea of Axel being a demon :D I kind of really suck at ideas like that so thank you! xD**

**Okay, no more rambling. Please enjoy this little chapter I have for ya here.**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**Do the Trick or Treat**

I opened my eyes and jumped back about ten feet, smacking my head on the wall. "Jesus Christ, Axel! What the hell are you doing?"

"What happened to your eye?" he asked, his face and voice completely serious as he knelt at the edge of my bed. The color drained from my face. Right, I had taken a shower later that night and all of the cover-up had washed off. Crap.

"What?"

"Your eye. It's _black_." He said. "Did you get punched in the face? What the hell happened to you?"

"I… yeah." I sighed. It wasn't even worth it to lie to him. Not to mention it would kind of destroy everything I had said the night before.

"Who punched you?"

I scratched the back of my head nervously. "Uh… I kind of promised I wouldn't say."

"_Roxas_."

I let out a sigh. "It was Marluxia, alright? Lets just say I'm not the only one who noticed you weren't exactly acting yourself."

"Fucking-" Axel hissed, looking away. No doubt he was planning the demise of the poor pink haired man as we spoke.

"Axel, it's fine." I said quickly. Maybe if I got his mind off of it he'd forget about completely destroying him. "Everyone was pretty worried, he said they hadn't seen you like that since your dad."

Axel raised an eyebrow.

Oh crap. I wasn't supposed to know about that, was I?

"He told you about that?"

"Only… bits and pieces…" I squeaked.

Axel let out a sigh, running his hand over his face. "I am going to _kill_ him."

"It's kind of my fault," I said, trying to take the blame off of Marly. Sure he was a little rude but I didn't hate him or anything. "I pried a little too much."

"Oh no, I'm still killing him for punching you." Axel deadpanned.

"But he was just trying to protect you. I mean, he didn't know what happened or anything, plus it was kind of my fault, and so he took it out on me. Plus if he hadn't punched me I probably wouldn't have realized a lot of things. It was…" I searched for the right word. "It was a punch of enlightenment."

He didn't seem very amused.

I frowned. "Axel, seriously, forget about it"

"How can I forget about it?" he growled. "He punched you in the face. I don't care how pissy he is, he gave you a freaking black eye!"

"It was a punch of enlightenment, Axel!" I reminded him.

"How the hell do you get enlightenment from a punch!"

"He knocked some sense into me." I explained.

"That term is not supposed to be taken literally!" he groaned.

"Well it still worked!" Okay, this was getting us nowhere. I sighed, grabbing both sides of his face and giving him a reassuring kiss, mostly just to take his mind off of the current issue. "I'm _fine_, Axel, seriously. It doesn't even hurt anymore."

"Oh yeah?" he poked my cheekbone, his finger about as light as a feather.

"Ouch! What the hell?" I yelled, clutching at my cheek.

"Oh look at that, it still hurts." He said, a very disapproving look on his face.

I rubbed my cheek sorely. "It doesn't hurt unless someone _touches_ it." I mended my statement.

"I'm still going to kill him."

"Don't."

"Oh yeah? And what exactly are you going to do to stop me?" he asked.

My face went red. "Nothing kinky, if that's what you're thinking!"

Shock spread across his face for a split second before it turned into a smirk. "Wow Roxas, I had no idea you thought about stuff like _that_."

"I don't!" I yelled, burying my face in my pillow.

Axel just laughed, climbing onto my bed and laying next to me. He started poking the part of my cheek that was visible. "I'm just joking Rox, jeez. How about this, you go trick or treating with me and Demyx today… and I'll _think_ about not killing Marly."

"One: I don't have a costume, and two: no."

"What if I promise you that I will not kill Marly?" I gave him a deadpan look. "I swear on my life, that I will do nothing more than yell at him a tiny bit, and I will let you eat some of the cookie dough when we bake those cookies."

"…Maybe."

"Yes!" he jumped up, punching his fist into the air triumphantly.

"I didn't say I would! I said maybe!"

"Maybe always means yes." Axel grinned.

I rolled my eyes, sitting up. "That is totally not true."

"It is in my book."

"I think your book has some errors in it."

He stuck his tongue out. "Don't you have work or something?"

"Shit, what time is it?" I asked, looking around for a clock. I sighed in relief when I realized I still had a good half an hour to get ready. So, after rushing to get my work clothes on, brush my teeth, and then run out the door I managed to arrive at work on time. Thank god.

Sadly, people seemed to like doing last minute shopping the day of Halloween. The place was _packed_. There was no time to talk to Namine as we worked, but I had the feeling she could already tell that Axel and I had talked about things. Well, it was kind of obvious; I was humming when she saw me first.

Work didn't last very long. In fact, it seemed to go by extremely quickly for such a busy day. I had a lot of different jobs, helping stack the shelves or working an extra check out counter when they were low. The constant movement is probably what made it seem so short.

When I got back to the house, I stared. There were orange lanterns and a giant spider hanging from the tree. A pot sat on the porch, and a fog machine was hidden behind it. Not to mention there were spider webs everywhere. Oh, they were _those_ kind of people. I shook my head with a sigh, walking up the now completely decked out front lawn to find Axel inside, an apron tied around his waist.

"What the heck did you do while I was gone?" I asked, taking a seat at the breakfast bar in front of him.

_"I_ have been decorating! This neighborhood is full of kids, and those kids bring their friends, so we've got to have awesome decorations so we aren't known as those boring people who don't give a crap. Now, it is your turn to help me bake these cookies." He said, pulling out a mixer and going to the fridge for ingredients. A laptop was set out in front of him, probably with the recipe on it.

I hopped off of my stool and moved into the middle of the kitchen. Axel handed me an apron similar to his, but I pushed it away. "I'm not wearing an apron."

"Why not? I am." He said, twirling it slightly. I mentally face palmed.

"Whatever, just give it to me." I sighed. There was no use arguing; he seemed hyper, and when he was hyper… it was best to just go with the flow. I tied the smaller apron around my waist, hooking the strap over my head. I was surprised when I looked up to have my chin tugged gently upward and Axel's mouth on mine.

He grinned as he pulled away. "I really don't think I'm gonna get tired of this any time soon."

"That's good to hear." I grinned back, though my face was getting warm. "So, time to make cookies?"

"Yes!" he cheered, spreading the ingredients he had gotten out onto the counter. "Time to make some cookies. I got chocolate and white chocolate chips that are dyed orange, so it'll be Halloween themed."

"Cool." I said, examining the recipe. It seemed like just a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe. Good, those were my favorite.

Axel mixed the dry ingredients while I got the wet (after turning the oven on to pre-heat, of course) and then we combined them together in the mixer. Axel had decided that it was much too quiet and put on some music, starting with It's Almost Halloween by Panic! At the Disco. I rolled my eyes but didn't say anything.

When the cookie dough was made, I took a spoon and scooped a bit out.

"Hey! No eating the cookie dough!" he scolded.

"Excuse me," I grinned, licking the spoon. "But you said that I could eat it if I went trick or treating with you."

Axel pouted. "Well yeah, but…" he suddenly seemed to understand what I was implying, a grin appearing on his features. "Hey, wait! So you're gonna trick or treat with u then?"

"if you can find me a costume in about four hours, yes."

"Roxas," he said as if it were completely obvious, "I decorated a _house_ in under three hours. I think I can find you a costume."

"Then I guess I'm trick or treating with you." I grinned, eating the last of the cookie dough on my spoon before placing it in the sink.

* * *

"I can't believe I'm doing this." I groaned.

Axel grinned, obviously a bit too excited about the whole ordeal. "You're gonna love it, this is gonna be so much fun."

"I can't believe I'm doing this." I repeated, even more dreadfully.

"Stop being a Debby Downer." Demyx laughed. "It's gonna be awesome!"

"Again," I said. "I cannot believe I'm _actually_ going to do this."

Namine shot me a sympathetic smile. She had been dragged along as well, a white spiderweb dress with tall boots, a witches hat, and cape. Axel was wearing black leather pants with a pair of spiked boots, a leather jacket and a bright red shirt underneath. He had a red tail sticking out of the back and a pair of horns on his head. Demyx was dressed as a pirate, and I was a mummy/zombie thing. It helped make my black eye look fake. All of our costumes were very mainstream, if I do say so myself, but there was a very limited supply at Nobbies the day of Halloween.

"It'll be fun, now shut up and hold the bucket." Axel instructed, shoving one of the three jack-o-lantern buckets (was that even the right term?) at me. I obliged, keeping quiet as we got ready to leave. It was eight at night, the sun completely set and you could hear kids laughing and talking outside while their parents stayed close behind them. We had gotten quite a few children come up in the past two hours, but as we prepared to start trick or treating on our own we set a giant bowl out on the porch for them to take as much as they pleased.

"Okay, everyone has their flashlights?" Axel asked, waiting for us to nod. "Buckets?" we held them up. "The buddy system is now in session! Everyone grab your partner." He said, quickly linking arms with me.

"Is this really necessary? We aren't going to be splitting up or anything." I said.

"You never know, Roxy!" Demyx said, arm linked with his sister. "Some kidnapper rapist could show up and try to take one of you, and without the buddy system, then you'd get taken and no one would notice! Also why the two of you can't be put together, because you're both too adorable, the kidnapper rapist would just take both of you!"

I raised an eyebrow. Obviously the 'two of us' was Namine and myself. She seemed equally amused with his assumption. "O…kay then."

"There you have it." Axel grinned, arm still firmly linked with mine. With that we all took off down the street.

"The porch light is the most important indicator as to if someone has candy or not. If the porch light is on, you are welcome for candy. If it is not, it either means we are not home, or go the fuck away we don't have any fucking candy." Axel said, and all I could do was imagine him with a spectacle on his eye and a moustache. He had a very intellectual look on his face.

I snorted, trying to hold back my laugh.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothing." I said, quickly waving away the thought. "Lets go."

"Right! And we're off." He said, pumping a fist into the air. We walked to the house next to his, ringing the doorbell quickly. It was amusing how excited he was.

We continued on around the neighborhood, going to each and every house we could and collecting a whole bunch of candy. Even though I had protested, they mostly used Namine and I for bait, prentending to be good-natured older siblings taking their twelve year old's out to trick or treat for the very last time in their life. Part of me wondered how many times they had tried this.

Overall, the night had been fun. We collected a lot of candy, and then as soon as eleven rolled around we were back in Axel's house, sitting in the middle of his living room with the coffee table moved out of the way, Hocus Pocus playing on the TV and our candy separated into our very own piles. Next came the most important part of the night.

Trading.

It was a custom even I had remembered; you go through you pile and decide what you dislike and find something from your friend to trade for it. Sadly, no one seemed to want any of the Almond Joys I had gotten, and I _really_ wanted Axel's Bottle Caps.

"You have like ten packs!" I yelled. "Come on, just one, please? I haven't had Bottle Caps in years."

"Pity will not work on me, Roxy-baby." Axel grinned, wagging a finger and protectively hiding his Bottle Caps behind him. In the time we had spent trading he managed to sort all of his candy into their different categories. "Here, you can have some milk duds."

"You're a dick." I said, flinging one of my many Almond Joys and hitting him right in the forehead.

"Hey!" he yelled, clutching his head and throwing it back at me.

"Oh my god would you two stop fighting?" Demyx groaned. "Just give him some fucking candy, Axel."

"No, these are my favorite!"

"They're my favorite too!" I argued.

"I earned them!"

"You should be happy I even did this with you in the first place!" I growled. "The least you could do is give me one of your Bottle Caps."

"That wasn't in the deal." He said, sticking his tongue out. "You said you'd go with if I let you eat some cookie dough and I promised not to hurt Marly. Bottle Caps were not in the deal."

"How was I supposed to know there would be Bottle Caps?"

"And how come you didn't get any? We went to the same houses!" he accused.

Demyx face palmed, dug through his pile of candy, and threw a pack of Bottle Caps at my face. "There, happy? Now both of you quit _bitching_ so I can eat in _peace_!"

"Someone's crabby." Axel grumbled, crossing his arms. I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Shush!" Demyx said. "This is like my favorite movie!"

"Roxas, I'll trade you my Reeses for your Twix. I don't really like peanut butter all that much." Namine offered, holding out a two-pack of Reeses.

"You don't like peanut butter?" I asked, handing over my Twix.

She shook her head. "No, I never really did."

I hummed in response, popping a Dot in my mouth. Axel snatched the little yellow container out of my hand and began fishing around for a flavor he liked. "Hey!" I yelled, practically tackling him to get it back. He held his arm out of reach, popping a red one in his mouth before handing it back. I glared at him but didn't say anything.

"And I thought _I_ was immature!" Demyx groaned. "Jesus, you two are like an old married couple mixed with being toddlers, I can't decide on just one."

"They are both very stubborn." Namine giggled, amused at the display. "At this rate Roxas is going to end up being the dominant one."

"Oh god Namine can you _not_ speak your fangirlish thoughts out loud, please?" I groaned. Oh she would be deciding who was what in the relationship.

"I'm just making an educated guess." She shrugged, grinning innocently. Yeah, innocent my ass.

"There is no possible way that Roxas could ever be dominant." Axel said. "Not only am I taller-"

"Axel, body size has nothing to do with that-"

"Shush!" he hissed at me. "But also Roxy is too cuddly. Not to mention you don't inniciate anything!"

"It's been _one day!"_ I let out a frustrated sigh. "And if I do remember correctly, I was the first to kiss you the past few times, not the other way around."

"He's got a point, Ax." Demyx said, giving up trying to get us to be quiet.

"Traitor!" he yelled, pointing an accusing finger at his friend. "You're supposed to be on _my_ side!"

I pat his arm lightly. "Axel, I think you've had too much candy. Maybe you should go to bed."

"You're being worse than my brother right now." Namine agreed.

"Hey!" Demyx protested, but shot his younger sister a playful glare.

I sighed, lying back on the floor. My sugar high had gradually been going away, and after all of that choclate I was starting to get a stomachache. I opened my eyes when I felt a pressure on my stomach.

Axel grinned up at me, his head resting on my abdomen, hands behind his head. "Sup Roxy."

"Hello Axel." I said, closing my eyes once again.

"Anyone know what time it is?" he asked, adjusting to make himself more comfortable.

"Uuh it's a bit past midnight." Demyx said, yawning. "Man I'm beat! Wanna go home, Nami?"

"I'm sure these two want to spend some time alone." She agreed, smiling innocently when I glared at her. "I'll see you at work, Roxas." She waved.

"Bye guys." I waved back.

Axel sighed once they left, sitting up. "Usually Dem will stay the night."

"They're giving us space." I said. "Plus knowing Nami she probably thinks much worse things are going to happen as soon as they're gone."

Axel laughed. "Yeah, she always seems to love poking her nose in other people's business."

I rolled onto my side, resting my chin in my hand. "It's not always a bad thing though. She coached me through a lot before _and_ after I met you."

"I'm guessing she's the friend you said that gave you advice way back when?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

There was a small pang in my chest, but I forced a smile. "She may have been one of them."

"There were more?"

"Sort of." I left it at that, and thankfully Axel didn't press on the subject. One of the hardest things for me to remember was Xion. It always was harder to think back on good memories than bad. Or maybe that was just me.

"Oh my god we have cookies." Axel suddenly jumped up and ran to the kitchen and then came running back, four cookies in hand. He passed two to me and then stuffed one in his mouth.

"You're such a dork." I grinned, taking a small bite out of mine.

"Hm, maybe." He grinned, poking my nose with his. "But you love me."

"That I do." I smiled, my eyes closing as he leaned in closer to me give a quick kiss. It was amazing how such a simple action could send chills down my spine. I don't think I could ever get used to that feeling, but then again, I didn't really want to.

* * *

**Ooowww I totally just scratched my cheek and now my braces are rubbing against iitt TT-TT Augh. I got braces a few weeks ago x.x Just random useless info from me to you. Love it. More random info? I have a girlfriend c: we've been dating for about a month 1/2 and we were like best friends for a year before then. So yeah :D**

**Ookay now for story related news! I do believe we are about halfway-ish through the story? I know, I'm kind of extremely shocked as well. We're probably gonna have 20-some odd chapters, give or take. Most likely give. I'm so freaking excited, you have no idea. I'm obsessing over this story at the moment xD So prepare yourselves, folks. Drama drama dramaaaa. What, you didn't really expect me to keep things all happy and rainbowy forever, did you? ;D**

**Well anyway, I need to think of ways to really bring out the hurt/comfort part of this fanfic. Oohh and it shall be fun indeed... and thinking of what to do in later chapters. But one thing at a time, right? Now go review, because that makes me motivated, and motivation makes me write, which in turn gives you guys another chapter! Wow I'm rambling... Goodbye now! Review!**


	16. The Phone Call

**GUYS. GUYS. I'VE REACHED 101 PAGES ON THIS STORY. I say we have a celebration! this is the very first time I have ever reached over 100 pages on ANYTHING in my ENTIRE LIFE. It's like my very own world record u except much smaller... and probably not very significant for anyone else xD**

**Well, not the longest chapter I've written, but it gets the point accross. Hurray for updating! And I'm reeaalllyy sorry there was a bit of a wait on this one. But please enjoy and thank you all who have read and/or reviewed! You make my heart feel super happy! *makes heart sign over heart as a little red heart floats into the sky* yeah... I'm going to stop talking now... Enjoy xD**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**The Phone Call**

I had woken up that morning with a horrible stomachache. At first I thought I had the stomach flu or some other sickness, but then I remembered the candy. I let out a groan, rolling onto my side and curling into a ball. Maybe if I blocked out the light enough my body would let me go back to sleep and then I could ignore the pain for a while.

However, luck did not seem to be on my side that morning.

"Roooxxxyyy!" Axel called, and I swear to god if someone was outside they would have stopped and stared at the house in confusion. He burst open the door – without knocking, might I add – and flopped onto the bed. "Breakfast is ready, and we have to leave in fifteen minutes. I let you sleep in."

I grumbled but didn't protest. Instead I slowly rose out of bed and glared at him.

Axel just grinned, kissed me on the lips and then jumped back up. "Come on, up and at 'em! It's Monday, and Monday means school!"

"Did you have crack on your pizza or something?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. But seriously, how was he so hyper? Especially when it was so early in the morning?

"What?" he snorted.

I shook my head. "Nothing, inside joke." I sighed, remembering back to my old friends. I wondered what they would think, seeing me now? Axel poked my cheek. "Right, right." I sighed, taking my time to climb out of bed. "I'm awake."

"Good! Now get ready and eat and then we'll be off!" he said, charging out of my room. I sighed, shaking my head before proceeding to find clean clothes to wear. Once dressed and semi-decent, I hurried to eat my breakfast and finish getting ready in the short amount of time Axel had given me. Luckily, we seemed to be able to get to school on time.

The first person I made eye contact with was Marluxia. He glanced at me, took a sip of his apple juice, and nodded a hello. I nodded back, rubbing the back of my neck nervously. Axel seemed to make a 180 as soon as he spotted the pink haired man. I honestly almost thought I saw steam rising off of his back, but then again, I couldn't really trust my eyes at all, could I?

Axel practically growled at Marly, taking a seat right next to him. I poked his arm and shot him a warning look, but he didn't seem to notice. The glaring war continued for a while before I finally sighed and turned towards Demyx. "So what are you up to?" I asked.

"Oh, me? I'm writing a song." He grinned, tapping his head with his pen.

"You write music?"

"Yup! I sing it too, but I prefer playing my sitar. Sucks that the school doesn't really have sitars in band or I would totally join." He said, jotting down some more words. I peered over, trying to get a look at what he was writing when he suddenly jerked away, slapping the notebook face down on the table. "No peaking!" he yelped.

"Ah, um, sorry." I apologized quickly, sitting back in my chair.

Demyx let out a sigh. "Nah, don't apologize! I'm just really anal about that, you know? I freak out when people read over my shoulder when I'm writing. But once I'm done you can totally see it!"

"Alright. I'll try not to look over your shoulder again." I said. I couldn't really blame him for his strange phobia (if it even was a phobia); I had a few of my own like that as well.

Sora freaked out when he saw me that morning. He had turned around, probably about to go ranting on about the party Saturday, but one glance at my face and his eyes widened. "Oh my god! Roxas, what happened to your face?"

I shrugged, sitting in the desk next to him. "Lets just say I had an interesting weekend."

"I bet." He said, adjusting his seat to look at me. "But seriously, what happened?"

"An angry protective friend happened."

"Details?"

I was hesitant. What happened to keeping all this under the radar? Though I guess a big purple splotch on my eye wasn't exactly invisible, no matter how much work I put into covering it up. Okay, screw it. "Basically? I was worrying about myself when a friend was hurting, and his friend got pissed and punched me. It's all good though."  
Sora sat in silence. For once he was speechless. Wow, I should get an award for that. "Dude! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, my eye just hurts if I touch it." I said.

"I bet."

"So what did you want to tell me?"

"Oh!" he sat up straighter, going into his 'story telling mode'. "So this weekend! The party was _insane_! I swear it was the bets party ever! Next time they throw a party you _have_ to come Roxas."

"Right. I'll try." I nodded, spacing off as he went into a more detailed version of what exactly had gone on Saturday.

* * *

The coolest thing about not living with your own family is that when you get a boyfriend, you don't have to worry about coming out and telling them you're gay. The coolest thing about living with _Axel's_ family? They had been cheering for us to get together since before I even knew them. Of course, once we had 'official-ized' it, as Aerith had so eagerly put it, a talk was in order.

Axel groaned. "Oh god. Spare me my sanity, please? We already know this stuff."

Aerith shot him a disapproving look. "We know you're old enough to understand on your own, but as your parents – and guardians-" she smiled at me "- it is our job to make sure that all the rules of this household are enforced."

"This means." Zack interjected. "That we don't want any PDA. Trust me; keep whatever it is you do out of sight. No one wants to walk into the living room to find you two making out or half naked – or even worse, _completely_ naked – on the couch. We sit on that."

"That is generally what you do on couches, yes." Axel grinned.

I nudged him in the arm. In all honesty, I was extremely embarrassed. I had never really received 'the talk' from any of my family, only heard about it from my friends. Now I knew why it was so horrible – no matter who it was, hearing adults inform you about sex was not fun at all.

They went over ground rules, for the most part. No locking the doors if we were alone in a bedroom, no household PDA, and that was honestly about it. Zack's conversation was probably the worst. He covered all of the 'guy talk'. That basically consisted of how we were supposedly in our 'horny teenager stage' and even though we didn't have to worry about one of us getting pregnant (I would hope to god that was true), we did have to worry about diseases. All I have to say to that? Ew. Never again did I want to hear about that stuff. Axel's jokes and snarky comments didn't help much either.

Overall, it was extremely embarrassing. Well, it was for me, anyway. Axel seemed to have plenty of fun with the whole thing. Thankfully once it was over and we were set free, Axel decided a celebration was in order.

"You know, like a first date kind of thing! I know it's kinda late but we could go get dinner or something. Or we could go see a movie, or maybe just get ice cream?" He was rambling, spouting off random ideas for us to do. I waited patiently until he was finished. "So what do you want to do?"

"Um… I guess ice cream is good." I said. "We can do something more 'date-like' on Saturday, I don't work then." Wow, talking about that kind of stuff was so much easier than I thought it would be. It felt a little weird putting the word 'date' in there, but at the same time it just kind of felt like it… fit. It's hard to explain.

Whatever gave us the crazy idea to go out for ice cream in the middle of autumn was beyond me. But we did. The place was mostly empty, everyone else with common sense probably getting coffee somewhere warm. I remembered back to the first time we came here; when I thought Axel was mostly just a nuisance. Who would have guessed he'd be so much more than that?

We sat across from each other, eating our ice cream in silence for a long while. I watched out the window as cars passed by. "Remember when we first met?" I asked absentmindedly.

Axel laughed. "Yeah, you smacked right into me and then I bugged you ever since."

"I thought you were so annoying back then." I grinned, though I was kind of embarrassed to admit it.

"Gee, thanks." He said, rolling his eyes.

"What did you think of me at first?"

Axel leaned back in his seat, smiling slightly. "I thought you were a kid who needed someone, but wouldn't reach out, and I did everything in my power to make you talk to me. One of my first thoughts was 'I want to see him smile for real' and from then on I made it my life goal to make that happen."

"Well congratulations." I said, nodding in approval. "I think you've completed your goal."

"Oh but my new life goal is to make sure you _never_ get tired of me." He grinned.

"Trust me, I don't think I could even if I wanted to." I shivered, the cool of the ice cream starting to get to me.

Axel laughed at that, shoveling down the last of his ice cream. "What do you say we get out of here?"

"We weren't gone for very long." I said.

"Well it's a school night, it's not like we could stay out all night even if we wanted to." He shrugged. "Plus you look cold, your lips are turning blue!"

"It's your fault for suggesting ice cream."

"You're the one who said we should save dinner for the weekend." He reminded me.

Damn it, I forgot about that. "Yeah, whatever." I grumbled.

"Are you ready to go, Mr. Grumpy Gills?" he smirked, poking my nose with his spoon.

I swatted it away, and instead of answering his question I simply stood up and tossed my empty container into the trash. Axel followed after and we dawned our coats once again before braving the cool autumn air and hurrying to his car.

The car ride was silent and awfully short, but thankfully there was no awkwardness in the lack of conversation. The heat was up all the way, fogging up the windows every now and then. The silence broke when my phone began ringing. I raised an eyebrow, digging into my pocket. There were only two numbers that ever called me, and it was neither. I was tempted to ignore the call, seeing as it was from a number I didn't know, but curiosity got the better of me.

"Uh… Hello?"

"Roxas! It _is_ you! Holy shit, guys it is Roxas!" the voice yelled, and my breath immediately caught in my throat.

"H-Hayner?"

"Hey Roxas!" he yelled over the chatter of two other voices.

"Oh my god." I breathed. It was Hayner. Hayner, my closest friend since birth that I hadn't seen for months, was calling me. "Wait, how did you get this number?"

"Are you kidding me?" He grinned. "I have my ways. Actually, Seifer dug up some stuff and eventually found you. What the hell were you trying to pull? Running off like that without saying anything?"

"I-… It's a long story. Um… so what's up?"

Axel raised an eyebrow, obviously confused. I mouthed that I would explain later as we pulled into the driveway.

"What's up? You run off without saying anything and the only thing you say after all this time is _what's up_?" he scoffed, and the sounds of my other two friends - Pence and Olette – began to get louder. I could hear Pence whining to give him a turn.

"What else do you want me to say?"

"I don't know, an explanation perhaps?"

"I told you, it's a long story." I grimaced, closing the door behind me and thanking Axel when he opened the door for me.

"Are you with someone?" Hayner asked.

"Uh… yeah, kinda. Look, I gotta go, but I promise I'll call you tomorrow, okay? And tell Olette and Pence hello and I'm sorry for disappearing."

"Whoa whoa whoa, you aren't getting off the hook that easy." He said. "You didn't think we'd just call and that would be it, did you?"

I sighed. "No, because with you guys, it never is."

"Exactly. You better be at the airport Friday at four, and have your apology speech ready." The call ended, leaving the phone beeping in my ear.

I sighed, stuffing it back in my pocket.

"What was that about?" Axel asked, following me up the stairs and into my room. We both sat down on my bed and leaned against the wall. It seemed to be a nightly routine – we would just sit together and talk in one of our rooms until it was time for bed.

I shook my head. "My friends back in Nevada seem to have found me, and now apparently they're boarding a plane and coming here Friday."

"Seriously?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "They're kind of… spontaneous like that. I don't even know how they got their parents to agree to this, but whatever. So I'll probably be spending the weekend with them…"

"What about our date?" he asked. "You know, the dinner?"

I smacked my forehead. Why did I keep forgetting about that? "Augh, sorry… I'll see if I can get them to leave me a lone long enough for us to go to dinner."

"It's fine." He shrugged. "You haven't seen them for like, what, a year and a half? Go ahead and spend some time with them."

"Alright, thanks. I'm reaaaalllyy sorry if we can't do anything this weekend." I frowned. If all else failed, at least we could hang out in the morning or at night. Still, I felt horrible for blowing off our first official date like that.

* * *

"Your friends are visiting? That's so nice of them! I wish my parents would let me fly all the way out to another state to see my friends for a weekend." Sora sighed, leaning back in his chair and propping his feet up on the one in front of him. He seemed a lot more calm today, to my surprise. Though he did have his moments where he wasn't always talking at high-speed, so I shouldn't have been.

"You've lived here your whole life, though, right?" I asked.

"Well yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head. "But its not like I don't have some old friends that have moved away. Plus that wasn't really the point."

"Hm I guess."

"So," he grinned, sitting up. "I don't want to be all like intrusive of your get together or anything, but if you have free time you should totally introduce us! Not just me, of course, but to like everybody, like your friends and me and Riku."

I raised an eyebrow. "Why'd you separate you and Riku from the list of 'my friends'?"

"Well because I don't really hang out with them." He shrugged. "I like them and all and they're really fun, but Riku and I kind of have our own group, plus I don't really keep myself glued in one clique, so I'd feel like I was pushing myself into your group if I just said all of us. Speaking of that! We hardly even hang out! So we should totally do something next weekend, or if you find time in between meeting with your friends."

Okay, so maybe he did still talk a lot, but that insane hyper attitude seemed to be dwindling. Maybe Riku had something to do with it. He was always so calm and collected; it wouldn't be a surprise if that were rubbing off on Sora as well. "Just lemme know ahead of time when you want to hang out and I'll ask." I smiled. Now that I thought about it, hadn't Axel rubbed off on me as well?

The bell rung after that, and the day passed quickly. I was busy thinking about what to do once Hayner and the gang showed up. What was I supposed to tell them? Though Hayner did know quite a lot about how my life at home had been going, I never really told him about my… dreams? Hallucinations? I wasn't sure what to call them. Either way it sounded strange. But what if they wanted to see my house? They'd know I wasn't staying with Cloud, and who knew what they would do when they found out I was dating Axel. Hayner was a bit stuck up about things like that.

By Thursday night my head was swimming with questions and worries and I had reduced myself to a ball of nerves. I didn't know what I should or shouldn't keep from them, or what to tell them about the things I didn't want them to know. Not to mention, if they knew where I was, who's to say Dad hadn't found out either?

I tensed slightly when I felt hands on my shoulders, but relaxed quickly as they began rubbing slowly, untying the knots in my muscles. "You'll be fine." Axel said, resting his chin on my head and wrapping his arms around my shoulders. "They're probably just going to want to go out on the town and stuff like that, and it's only for two or three days."

"I know." I sighed, leaning into him. "But I just… I can't help it."

"And I repeat." Axel grinned, turning me around to look at him and poked my nose. "You'll be _fine_. Don't tell them anything you don't feel comfortable saying, and if they're good friends they'll leave it be."

"Aren't you being kind of a hypocrite?" I asked, remembering back to all of the times he had pestered me about my personal life.

"Yes, but I did those things within reason." He said. "I knew there was something wrong, and I felt that it was serious enough that you needed a bit of an intervention. Besides, I did give you space if you made it clear you didn't want to talk about it."  
"Fair enough." I shrugged. "But this is Hayner we're talking about. He doesn't g down without a fight."

"Then I guess you better bring your boxing gloves." Axel smirked. "Now get to bed! It's late and you have guests to entertain tomorrow."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever." I grinned, turning towards my dresser to find a pair of clean pajamas.

"Hey," he said, grabbing my arm to pull me back. I was surprised by a very sweet, short kiss. "Night Roxy, sweet dreams."

"Night Axel."

* * *

**Sooo we finally get to meet Roxy's old friends! But what is this about his daddy? HMMM I WONDER.**

**Nah I haven't gotten that far, so don't go making conclusions just yet xD So I hope you enjoyed this, and prepare for a jealous Axel and nosy friends o3o Oh, and of course please don't forget to leave a review! :D I'll try to have chapter 17 up and running as soon as possible! Thanks for being patient!**


	17. The Reunion

**Well hello again! Okay, I'm not gonna talk much cuz I wanna keep writing (hehe), so things start off pretty quickly here, so be prepared! Sorry for any mistakes, I'm updating this kinda right off the bat, and I only quickly went over it once. Thanks all of you who have read and/or reviewed so far! It means a lot to me ^-^ Now, enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**The Reunion**

My alarm was not a welcomed one that morning.

Fumbling for the off button with one hand and covering my face with the other, I stayed in bed for a good five minutes before finally sitting up. The night before had been a rough one; I couldn't sleep more than usual, and, according to my clock, had woken up every hour. With a yawn I kicked my feet out of bed and made my way to turn the lights on.

I was rummaging through my drawers for an outfit to wear when I saw something out of the corner of my eye. Doing a double take through my underwear drawer, my eyes widened at the familiar red in front of me. I had forgotten it was there. In all honesty, I thought I had left it in the old apartment.

I ran my fingers over the cool metal, remembering each groove and appliance as if it were the back of my hand. After finding the one I was looking for I pulled up the small blade, running my finger over the smooth side.

_ "It's been such a long time…"_

My eyes widened. I felt my breath catch in my throat and all movements halted. The voice was barely a whisper, but I could still feel that warm breath on my neck, remember those eyes and that smirk, that horrible, _horrible_ smirk.

_"Why don't you give it a try…"_

Though trembling, my hands moved on their own, taking on a deadly slow pace as the blade turned so the tip was against the wrist of a finger that had once been on the safest edge. Ever so slightly the pressure increased, as well as my shaking.

_ '… for old times sake?'_

My eyes burned from being open so wide, lungs ached for air but I seemed to have forgotten how to give it to them. I could see the blade pressing further, daring to draw blood, but the stinging was stuck in the back of my mind, hardly even there at all.

A knock on the door made me jump and my hand slipped. I bit my lip to keep from screaming as I fumbled with the knife until it eventually fell back into the drawer it came from.

"Rox? Hey you okay?" Axel asked, peering in.

I kept my eyes locked on the ceiling as I held back the tears and put as much pressure on my wrist as I could to keep myself from bleeding over everything. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Just nervous." I managed to say in a decent enough voice. No cracking like I had assumed, though it was a bit higher than normal. "I'll be ready in a bit."

"'kay, well, Mom's already at work for a meeting, and Zack is gone too, so I'm cooking breakfast. See ya downstairs!" he waved, and as soon as the door clicked shut I let out a sigh of relief, which was then followed by a very strangled cry of pain.

I ran to the bathroom after making sure the coast was clear, locked the door, and pulled out the first aid kit. An eerie nostalgia filled the air as I sat on the lid of the toilet, wrapping the still-bleeding wound up as nicely as I could. Once all was said and done I brushed my teeth and took my medicine – almost took two after what had happened, but decided I had better not – and did everything I could to make myself presentable. After all, I had company later, and I could not have myself looking like the nervous schizophrenic wreck I felt at the moment.

"Morning Roxy." Axel called as I sat down at the island, Kairi packing her bag at the dining table. "Sleep well?"

I shrugged. "Well enough."

Axel frowned at that. "Roxas."

"I couldn't sleep, alright?" I sighed. "I just don't really know how everyone's gonna take the news."

"Like I said before, you don't have to tell them anything you don't feel comfortable telling them. Besides, you've got till this afternoon to think about what you want to tell them." He said, setting a plate of chocolate chip pancakes in front of me and called Kairi over as well before setting some out for himself.

"Yeah, I know."

"So what's going on?" Kairi asked, taking a large bite out of her pancakes.

"Roxy's having company." Axel explained.

"My friends back in Nevada are coming up to visit for the weekend." I told her.

"Oh well that's nice! You guys have fun then, I'm off to school." She waved, finished off the last of her pancakes with lightning speed, and ran out the door.

"Who takes her to school anyway?" I asked.

"She walks with her friends. School isn't that far away, plus she has people with her so she's usually good. We'll have to start driving her soon though, since it's getting cold out." Axel said, gulping down his orange juice. "You ready?"

"How does everyone in your family eat so fast?" I gaped. It had only been a few minutes and yet Axel and Kairi had managed to clean their entire plate while I still had half of my food left. Regardless, I quickened my pace a bit and finished the rest of my pancakes without receiving an answer, just a smirk.

I shifted in the passenger seat of Axel's car as we rode to school. My mind was still stuck on this morning. His voice… why had I been able to hear his voice? He was supposed to be gone, supposed to have disappeared because of the medicine… So why had that happened? Another part of me worried that Axel had seen my knife. I didn't want him thinking I was doing that again, though the wound on my arm wouldn't help my debate on the matter… but that hadn't really been me, had it? It was my body doing it, but I wasn't in control… it was _him_.

I shivered despite the car being a good seventy-five degrees, kept my gaze fixed out the window, and prayed that Axel would just think I was worrying about meeting with my friends. Of course, there was the question of whether or not he had actually seen what had happened that morning. He had opened the door right in the middle of my… whatever it was, and he did seem like he knew something was up. It was kind of hard to tell with him sometimes.

It was towards the end of the day when I received my answer. We were heading out to his car after school when I made the mistake of using that arm to pull my backpack over my shoulder. Not only did I wince from stretching the wound, but my sleeve fell, revealing the top of the bandages.

"Roxas, what is _that_?" Axel asked, his voice suddenly stern as he stared directly at the hand I glued to my side in an attempt to hide it.

"It's nothing."

"Roxas." His voice was low, hand outstretched. "Show me your arm."

"I told you, it's nothing." I said, but I knew it was no use. Best to go ahead and tell him than have him think of the worst – though it was pretty close, wasn't it? With a reluctant sigh I raised my arm enough for him take hold of it and pull the sleeve up all the way. Despite my mind yelling at me not to, I looked up into his eyes. He wasn't angry, no, it was much worse.

He was hurt.

Just before he opened his mouth to say something, I stopped him. "It- it was an accident… well, I mean, sort of…" I sighed. How was I supposed to explain? "I just… I forgot I had it, and when I found it I just kind of zoned out… and then you knocked on the door and I jumped, so I ended up getting cut pretty bad… I didn't really do it on purpose. I don't intend to do anything like that again."

Axel nodded, but his teeth were clenched tight. I could tell he was still upset that it had even happened, but I was too. "Don't scare me like that. And next time something happens, you can tell me." he mumbled, scratching the back of his head. "We better get going."

"It's only three." I reminded him, grateful for the subject change as I climbed into the passenger seat, but it still didn't seem right. I didn't feel any better for getting that off my chest, and he sure as hell didn't seem to feel any better about the situation either. "We have some time."

"Okay." He said, leaning back in his chair after he turned the engine on, but didn't make any move to start driving yet. "Then what do you want to do?"

I thought for a moment, but when nothing came to mind I sighed. "I don't know."

"Hm…"

"It's already been a week." I mumbled.

"Since?" he questioned.

I blushed, looking away. "Ah, uh, since we got together."

"Oh. Yeah, I guess it has. Wow, is it just me or does it feel like a whole lot longer?" he grinned, and hopefully that was enough to take his mind off of things for a while.

"Yeah, I guess it does… huh." In all honesty, I didn't know if that was long or not. I couldn't tell if we were going slowly, or too fast, or at the right speed, or when the right time to start doing other things would be. Was there even a 'right time'? I had never really been in a real relationship, and I had nothing to base it off of. It made me feel a bit nervous, now that I was thinking about it. I didn't have any way to answer these questions.

"We should probably get going." Axel said, starting the engine. "It takes a while to get to the airport, and you don't want to miss your friends."

"Alright, lets go." I nodded, buckling in my seatbelt. I was surprised when I looked back up to suddenly being pressed against my seat, Axel leaning over the middle piece of his car to reach my lips.

"We'll talk more later." He whispered, lips just barely grazing mine as he spoke, and it sent shivers down my spine, both good and bad. "Because I want to believe you, but I need to know the whole story first."

I nodded, swallowing a lump in my throat. With another quick kiss he turned his attention back to the car and we sped off to the airport to great my friends. This was going to be interesting.

* * *

The airport was buzzing with life, people moving quickly to get to one plain or another, checking out their luggage or buying their tickets. The place brought back memories of when I had first arrived in Nebraska, how different I felt it was but at the same time somewhat familiar. I held tightly onto Axel's hand – I had blushed at first when he grabbed me, but didn't protest – and hoped that we wouldn't get separated.

We searched for the right section where Hayner had said we would meet up, right against one of the large windows that overlooked the landing platforms, and sat against the ledge to wait for them. My hand was still in Axel's as we sat next to each other, waiting to see familiar faces.

"You gonna be okay?" he asked, making me tear my eyes away from the crowd.

"Yeah." I nodded. "I mean, like you said, I don't have to tell them anything I don't want to."

"I have a question though." He said, and by the look on his face I could tell it was at least somewhat serious, if not completely. "So, when you meet them again, how are you going to introduce me?"

"I-…" That was the one thing I hadn't come to a conclusion to about my friends. Surely none of them were disapproving enough to hate me for coming out to them, but then again, Hayner… It was hard to tell with him. Either he'd tease me for it, get angry that I hid it from him for so long, or both. "I don't know."

"I'm not going to get angry if you don't tell them, you know." He said, though he didn't sound to sure about that.

"I'm going to tell them before they leave, just… I don't know if right away is the best time to do it." I said, and before Axel could respond I spotted three familiar faces. "Hey, there they are!"

Almost as soon as I stood up Pence looked over, smiled brightly, and tugged on the other two to get their attention. I pulled Axel over to them as they made their way towards us and we all met in the middle.

"Roxas! Hey!" Hayner grinned, slapping me on the back while Olette gave me a quick hug. Pence grinned beside her, waving.

"Hey guys." I smiled and then laughed nervously. "I still can't believe you're here."

"And I can't believe you left without telling us!" Hayner hissed. "Seriously, what the hell was that all about? I know you hated it at home but I didn't expect you to leave! Jeez, if you were gonna run away you could have at least told us before you ran off! Hell I would have let you stay at my place!"

"Ah, yeah, sorry about that…" I sighed, scratching the back of my head. "But I didn't want to make a big deal out of it. I mean, you guys would have freaked out on my and stuff… but I'm sorry for making you worry."

"Hey Roxas, why don't you introduce us to your friend?" Olette asked, smiling towards Axel.

My face flushed. "R-right. This is Axel… He- I'm staying with him and his family." I explained.

"I've heard a bit about you guys." Axel grinned, shaking hands with each of the three. I raised an eyebrow at his manners but didn't say anything.

"You're living together?" Pence asked.

"Yeah. I had an apartment for a while, but money got bad, and I couldn't bother Cloud anymore than I already had, and Axel insisted."

"What, did you expect me to let you go and live on the streets?" Axel scoffed, ruffling my hair. "I couldn't let little Roxy be homeless when I've got at least two spare rooms in my house!"

I swatted his hand away with a 'hey!' and did my best to fix my hair, but as soon as I looked back to the group caught Olette glancing between the two of us. Oh no. That look on her face could only mean one thing…

She knew.

"Alright punks!" Hayner's older brother, Seifer, appeared next to us carrying two suitcases in one hand and dragging the other behind him. "Let's get the hell outta here and to the hotel. I called a taxi so we need to get going now." He turned to me, glaring. Obviously he hadn't come here out of sheer will, and it was only natural he would blame me for it. I was the reason they all wanted to come out to Nebraska in the first place. "Yo, Chickenwuss. You coming with or are you kids meeting up later?"

"Umm…" I turned to Axel, shooting him a questioning look.

He simply shrugged, stepping back. "Go ahead, I promised Dem we'd hang out later, so I can just head over there now."

"You sure?"

"Yup." He grinned, popping the 'p' at the end. "See ya later, Roxy."

"Okay." I smiled despite the guilt I felt for basically ditching him. "Bye Axel."

We all hurried out of the airport after Seifer dumped the suitcases on us and we ran outside to find our taxi. I honestly didn't even know they had taxi's in Omaha until I saw one drive past the apartment, and felt pretty stupid for quite a while after that.

It took a good fifteen minutes to reach the hotel, which was fairly close to Axel's neighborhood if my landmarks proved correct. Seifer checked the group into their rooms, – having gotten one for himself, apparently, though it would have made more sense to give Olette her own room since she _was_ a girl – passed out the keys, told us the numbers and then left us to fend for ourselves. On the way up to the second floor Olette and Pence stood on either side of me with Hayner leading in front and the two went on about how worried they had been when I hadn't shown up anywhere and proceeded to fill me up with guild for a good three minutes of walking.

"Seriously though, don't ever do that again." Hayner warned, jabbing the key into the door rather forcefully.

"Alright, alright." I sighed, following him inside. "I'm still wondering how exactly you guys found me."

"Seifer." Hayner said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"Yeah, okay, but still."

"You don't really want to know, Rox." Pence sighed, sitting down on one of the two beds in the middle of the room.

Hayner jumped onto the other and proceeded to lay down on his stomach and flip through the channels on the TV. Olette sat next to Pence, and I in turn took my seat next to Hayner, but not without shoving him over first.

"Hey! Asshole." He growled. "You've hardly changed at all."

"It's only been a few months." I reminded him.

"It feels like forever, though." Olette sighed. "So Roxas, all we've done is scold you for leaving, but how are you holding up here?"

"It's nice." I said, grateful to be free of the lectures. "I got into a good group of friends, and it's pretty fun. I've got a job, and a car, and I'm living with Axel, like he said."

"You seem happier." She smiled, though I could see the evil glint in her eye. Oh, she _so_ knew.

I sent her a warning glare.

"Yeah, are there any cute girls here? I expected Omaha to be kinda… I don't know, more farm-ish? It's actually, like, a legit city." Hayner said, giving up on trying to find a decent channel.

"Always you and girls." Olette rolled her eyes.

"What? Am I not allowed to ask about girls? I am a _guy_, Olette, it's what I do." Hayner snorted.

"Yeah Hayner, people might think you're overcompensating for something." Pence snickered. I laughed at that. it was true Hayner had always been a bit of a 'looker' when it came to girls; it would be hilarious to imagine him turning out to fancy men instead.

"I am not a fag, dipshit!" Hayner growled, threatening to throw his shoe at the chubbier friend.

I groaned, rolling my eyes. "_Hayner_… how many times do I have to ask you not to say that?"

"What, are you, a homo?"

"It shouldn't matter what I am, it's a horrible word, so can you please not say it anymore?" One of the only problems I had with Hayner was his mouth. Not only did he seem to think he needed to curse at least once in every sentence, but he used words like 'gay, homo, and fag' most of the time. It was a habit I had been working to break since we first met, but old habits die hard. He had been a potty-mouth since we were in third grade.

"Jeez, whatever, calm down." He huffed, though I doubted he'd stop saying it no matter how many times I told him.

"How are things back in Nevada?" I asked, turning to Olette and Pence for an answer.

Pence shrugged. "Not much has changed since you left. I mean, at first everyone was kind of freaking out 'cause you were missing, but things calmed down really quickly. Hey, how come they didn't even send out a search for you?"

I laughed a bit nervously. "Mom and Cloud helped me."

"What?" Olette gasped. "They actually _helped_ you run away?"

"It took forever to get them to agree, but in the end they helped me. Mom was actually paying for my rent for the first year or so, but Dad started noticing so she stopped. Hence why I moved in with Axel."

"And how did you get his family to agree?" Pence asked.

I just shrugged. "They liked me anyway, and his mom was aware of the whole situation to begin with since she's my school counselor, and apparently either Mom or Cloud told her. She might've even known more than I did…" I shook my head to keep the thoughts away. "But even I wasn't sure at first. It took me a few weeks to finally agree, and when I did we just went and talked to his parents. It was pretty easy, actually."

"Huh, well aren't you just a lucky duck." Hayner grinned.

"I guess so." I nodded. "So, what are we gonna do while you guys are here? Not sit around in a hotel room all day, I hope?"

Hayner rolled his eyes. "No, dumbass, we were hoping you'd take us places that are cool."

"Well we could go downtown." I offered. "It's a bit cold now but the zoo is still open, or there's the mall. You guys could get some souvenirs."

"We'll do that last then." Olette smiled. "Why don't we go downtown tomorrow? I don't know about you guys, but I'm exhausted."

"Ugh, same." Hayner groaned, turning to lay on his back. "All I want to do is sleep."

"You guys should at least get something to eat before you turn in for the night." I said. "There's this diner just a couple minutes from here, if you guys wanna go."

Olette nodded in agreement. "Sure, that sounds nice."

"If it's food, I'm in." Hayner said, jumping off of the bed to get ready to go.

"Okay, do you wanna walk there or call a taxi?" I asked once we were all up and ready.

The three answered in unison, groaning at the thought of having to walk. "Taxi." We turned to leave as I pulled out my phone to call the cab, knowing that I would probably be the one paying for it in the end. But hey, ever since I didn't have to pay rent or buy my own food, I had more money than I knew what to do with. Not that I was about to go spend it carelessly, mind you, I just had enough to splurge every now and then. Like buy a taxi for my friends since my car was at home. Heh, I could already tell that this was going to be an interesting weekend.

* * *

**Uwaaahh don't kill me! I'm sorry I made that happen to Roxas. And kinda made Hayner a dick ;-; Sadly, I based him off of a friend of mine. Yeah. She calls me homo :T and says the F and G words a lot :T Buuuuttt Hayner's nice, don't worry. Though you should worry about Roxas... nyahahaa- *cough hack cough* Augh, I have a cold ;-;**

**Okay so I totally just noticed the double meaning behind my chapter title I totally didn't mean to put in there! Ha! It's called 'the reunion', presumably because of his friends, but it could also be because he had an encounter with our imaginary antagonist. Mwahahaha~ my subconscious is so smart.**

**Okay, no more rambling, but please do leave a review! I'll try to have more up soon! Hopefully by this weekend, but if not, expect later. Hey, maybe even sooner ;D**

**Okay, bye-byez my lovelies 3**


	18. Author's Note Reason for Hiatus

**Hello there! Now, before you all kill me for making you think that this is an update, let me explain! First of all, because I have like five stories out, this is posted on all of them. Okay, so about a week ago, on Saturday night around 12:00, I was chillin on my laptop like I do every night (because obviously I don't have a life outside of the internet) and I ejected my flashdrive to charge my iPod and phone. Well, later that night, I plugged my flashdrive back in. Nothing happened. I tried it again, nothing happened. And still today, _NOTHING HAS HAPPENED_. Guess what was on my flashdrive? All of my stories and art and pictures and any other random crap I had saved on there. It's gone. Goodbye. Because of course, being the lazy-ass idjit that I am, I never saved backup files. So, while I was already behind in updating my stories to begin with (Oh god my Kingdom Hearts readers I am SO SORRY), it's going to take me a few weeks (maybe months) to get things back in gear. I'm not quitting any of my stories (at least I hope I wont), I just wanted you all to know why exactly I haven't, and probably won't be, updating for a while. Thank you for your patience and for putting up with me ;-; I'll do my best to get over myself and rewrite all those chapters I was about halfway through at the time. In the mean time, happy reading 3**

**-Abby**


End file.
